Arteriography and pancreatic disease

In the last 10 years, 605 celiomesenteric arteriographic examinations were done at Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, including 236 for suspected pancreatic disease. Sixty patients with histologic proof of malignant neoplasm had a positive arteriographic examination while 136 had benign disease of the pancreas and 40 others had extra-pancreatic disease. In this series, the sensitivity of arteriography was 88.3% and the specificity 92.6%. In the last 5 years the sensitivity of superselective arteriography was 100%. These results were better than those obtained with noninvasive techniques obtained with noninvasive techniques such as computerized axial tomography, ultrasonography and duodenography. The authors conclude that arteriography and particularly superselective arteriography is an excellent method for evaluating patients with suspected pancreatic cancer.