Ultrasonography and computed tomography in pancreatic malignancy

Previous reports have shown that ultrasonography (US) is inferior to computed tomography (CT) in detecting pancreatic carcinoma. Since our recent observations suggested the opposite we re-evaluated the accuracy of these two methods. Among 36 patients with malignant tumours the US was normal in one, in 4 it showed only secondary signs of tumour, and in 31 it revealed the tumour. The corresponding figures for CT were 2, 9 and 25, respectively. The conclusion is that US should be considered the primary method for imaging the pancreas.