Pancreas volume measurement in patients with Type 2 diabetes using magnetic resonance imaging-based planimetry

To compare pancreas volume (PV) measurement using MRI-based planimetry in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) to PV in normoglycemic individuals.

Our institutional review board granted approval of this retrospective study with waiver of informed consent. We searched 2296 consecutive abdominal MRI studies performed at our hospital on patients with no pancreas pathology between September 1, 2010 and February 28, 2013, for those who also had a fasting plasma glucose and/or hemoglobin A1C within six months of the MRI examination. For those patients who met biochemical criteria for DM, we used medication and clinical records to confirm that 32 of these patients had Type 2 DM. The pancreas contours of 32 Type 2 diabetics and 50 normoglycemic individuals were then traced on non-gadolinium T1-weighted 3D fat suppressed gradient echo images by a radiologist trained in abdominal MRI to calculate PV. PV index (PVI) was calculated as PV/weight to adjust PV for each patient's weight. PVs and PVIs in both cohorts were compared using t-tests and regression models correcting for weight, age and gender.

Patients with Type 2 DM had significantly lower PVs than normoglycemic individuals (72.7 ± 20.7 cm(3) versus 89.6 ± 22.7 cm(3), p < 0.001), and significantly lower PVIs (1.0 ± 0.3 cm(3)/kg versus 1.3 ± 0.3 cm(3)/kg, p < 0.001). Using regression models, we found that given the same age, weight and gender, the PV in a patient with Type 2 DM was 17.9 mL (20%) lower compared to a normoglycemic individual (p < 0.001).

PV is reduced in Type 2 DM compared to normoglycemic individuals and can be measured using MRI without contrast injection.