Assessment of resectability of carcinoma of the pancreatic head by ultrasonography and computed tomography. A retrospective analysis.

In order to establish the reliability of the assessment of tumour stage and hence of resectability of carcinoma of the pancreatic head by ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography (CT) a retrospective analysis was performed on 41 patients. Both direct imaging techniques were very accurate in detecting non-resectable disease, 100 and 85% respectively, but were much less accurate in predicting resectable cancer, 18 and 15% respectively. False-resectable results were established in 58% of US examinations and 42% of CT examinations. As demonstrated in this study, predicting resectability of carcinoma of the pancreatic head with US and CT is an inadequate method of assessing tumour stage and should be complemented by other techniques to ensure a reliable result.