Department of Radiology, Kawasaki Medical School, Matsushima, Kurashiki City, Okayama, 701-0192, Japan.
Eur J Radiol. 2012 Sep;81(9):2093-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2011.07.014. Epub 2011 Sep 8.
To investigate age-related changes in normal adult pancreas as identified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
We examined 115 patients without pancreatic diseases (21-90 years) who underwent upper abdominal MRI to evaluate the normal pancreatic MRI findings related to aging. The parameters examined were the pancreatic anteroposterior (AP) diameter, pancreatic lobulation, pancreatic signal intensity (SI), depiction of the main pancreatic duct (MPD), grade of the visual SI decrease on the opposed-phase T1-weighted images compared with in-phase images, and enhancement effect of the pancreas in the arterial phase of dynamic imaging.
The pancreatic AP diameter significantly reduced (head, p=0.0172; body, p=0.0007; tail, p<0.0001), and lobulation (p<0.0001) and parenchymal fatty change (p<0.0001) became more evident with aging. No significant correlation was observed between aging and pancreatic SI, however the SI on the in-phase T1-weighted images tended to decrease with aging. No significant correlation was observed between aging and the depiction of the MPD as well as aging and contrast enhancement.
MRI findings of pancreatic atrophy, lobulation, and fatty degeneration are characteristic changes related to aging, and it is necessary to recognize these changes in the interpretation of abdominal MRI in patients with and without pancreatic disease.
通过磁共振成像（MRI）研究正常成人胰腺的年龄相关性变化。
我们检查了 115 名无胰腺疾病的患者（21-90 岁），他们接受了上腹部 MRI 检查以评估与年龄相关的正常胰腺 MRI 发现。检查的参数包括胰腺前后径（AP）、胰腺分叶、胰腺信号强度（SI）、主胰管（MPD）的显示、同相位 T1 加权图像与反相位图像相比 SI 降低的程度以及动态成像动脉期胰腺的增强效果。
胰腺 AP 直径显著减小（头部，p=0.0172；体部，p=0.0007；尾部，p<0.0001），随着年龄的增长，分叶（p<0.0001）和实质脂肪变化（p<0.0001）变得更加明显。然而，年龄与胰腺 SI 之间无显著相关性，但同相位 T1 加权图像上的 SI 似乎随年龄的增长而降低。年龄与 MPD 的显示以及年龄与对比增强之间均无显著相关性。
胰腺萎缩、分叶和脂肪变性的 MRI 表现是与年龄相关的特征性变化，在有和无胰腺疾病的患者的腹部 MRI 解读中需要识别这些变化。
