Contrast enhancement pharmacokinetics in experimental pancreatitis, diabetes and subcutaneous granuloma.

Contrast medium concentration in the pancreas as a function of time after intravenous bolus injection was measured in 12 rats with oil-induced acute pancreatitis, 20 rats with Streptozotocin-induced diabetes and 20 rats with subcutaneous granuloma, induced by sponge, whose pancreatic tissue was used as a control. No significant effect of diabetes was observed. Calculated distribution volume and contrast enhancement in the pancreas were increased in pancreatitis relative to diabetes and controls. The increased enhancement was due to a relatively higher accumulation into the extravascular fluid, considered to represent pancreatic oedema. An even more marked and delayed enhancement was observed with the granuloma tissue and exudate, apparently on a similar basis. There appears to be a possibility of differential diagnosis of some pancreatic lesions using contrast enhanced CT.