Half-Fourier RARE MR cholangiopancreatography: experience in 300 subjects

To determine prospectively the clinical applications and diagnostic accuracy of half-Fourier rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement (RARE) magnetic resonance (MR) cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) in a large patient population.

Breath-hold, heavily T2-weighted half-Fourier RARE MRCP was performed in 265 patients with suspected pancreaticobiliary disease and in 35 control patients without symptoms or signs referrable to the biliary tract or pancreatic duct. MRCP findings were correlated with those at direct cholangiography, pathologic examination, cross-sectional imaging, and clinical follow-up.

Diagnostic MRCP examinations were obtained in 299 (99.7%) subjects. MRCP yielded an accuracy of 100% in determining the presence of pancreaticobiliary disease, the presence and level of biliary obstruction, and obstruction due to bile duct calculi. The accuracy of MRCP and MR imaging in determining the presence and level of malignant obstruction was 98.2%. MRCP obviated endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) by excluding choledocholithiasis in patients with acute pancreatitis (n = 13) and nonspecific abdominal pain (n = 82). In patients with sclerosing cholangitis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome cholangiopathy, MRCP depicted the biliary tract as clearly as did ERCP (n = 9). After failed ERCP, MRCP delineated the pancreaticobiliary tract and helped determine therapeutic options (n = 27).

Half-Fourier RARE MRCP enables accurate evaluation of pancreaticobiliary disease and obviates ERCP in some patients.