Magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosis of Shwachman's syndrome

Shwachman's syndrome is a rare disease characterized by the association of chronic diarrhea due to exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, metaphyseal dysostosis, and neutropenia. The diagnosis requires demonstration of lipomatosis, or fatty replacement of the pancreas, which is the typical pathological feature of the disease. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed in 13 patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, 7 with Shwachman's syndrome, 2 with Pearson's syndrome, 1 with normal sweat test later diagnosed as cystic fibrosis, and 3 without identified syndrome, and in 7 control children. Ultrasonography in the patients did not differentiate between atrophy and lipomatosis and could not be performed in 3. MRI visualized the pancreas in all. The same image was noted in all patients with Shwachman's syndrome with a normal-sized or enlarged pancreas, a hyperintense signal on T1- and T2-weighted image, and a null signal on short time inversion recovery (STIR)-weighted image, characteristic of fat. In all other patients, the findings were very different: The pancreas was a small structure surrounded with fat. In 1 patient without identified syndrome, the pancreas appeared to be partially replaced with fat. MRI is an excellent imaging technique to correlate the nature of a tissue and its radiological representation, especially fat, which gives a very typical signal. In our brief series of patients with Shwachman's syndrome, MRI had 100% positive predictive value in demonstrating lipomatosis. In atypical cases of pancreatic insufficiency in which some of the clinical features of Shwachman's syndrome are absent. MRI is an invaluable aid in the diagnostic procedure.