Mass-Forming Chronic Pancreatitis: Diagnostic Performance of PET/CT

Mass-forming chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma are most commonly located in the head of pancreas, and there is a marked overlap in clinical features and imaging findings that makes it diagnostically challenging, although prognosis and management of both these entities differ. Differentiation is made even more difficult when surgical exploratory biopsy is obtained. Radical surgical resection remains the standard of care for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and conservative treatment is effective for mass-forming chronic pancreatitis. Misdiagnosis of mass-forming chronic pancreatitis as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma results in unnecessary surgical intervention, and misdiagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma as mass-forming chronic pancreatitis results in delay in surgical intervention when required. Fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography can reliably be used for tissue characterization of mass-forming chronic pancreatitis and for monitoring disease response following treatment. Although differentiation of mass-like lesions of pancreas is reliably made on histopathology, significant false-negative rate is a major drawback that has a negative effect on diagnosis. This case report describes a rare presentation of mass-forming chronic pancreatitis with florid dystrophic calcifications in a 60-year-old male.