Thirty two cases including 17 clinically normal pancreas and 15 cases with so-called chr. pancreatitis were subjected to our evaluation on the correlation between radioisotope images and exocrine functions based on Pancreozymin-Secretin Test (P. S. Test).
At this early series, only scintiscanner (3×2 inch crystal) was used, but later on, scintillation camera was installed and both scintigrams and scintiphotos became available.
The results of our studies are as follows:
1) Normal images were obtained in 11 out of 17 normal pancreas and in 3 out of 15 cases with chr. pancreatitis as well. In these 14 cases with normal images there were no abnormal exocrine functions judged by P. S. Test.
2) There were 10 cases with normal P. S. Test, showing rather abnormal images. These patterns were found in 6 out 17 normal pancreas and in 4 out of 15 chr. pancreatitis. Therefore, abnormal images do not always indicate decreased exocrine functions based on P. S. Test.
3) Diagnostic accuracy on the radioisotope images was 11/17 or 64.7% in normal pancreas and 12/15 or 80.0% in chr. pancreatitis. Although these results show higher percentile in chr. pancreatitis than in normal pancreas, it is more difficult to diagnose chr. pancreatitis on their radioisotope images than normal pancreas because there are various patterns in the former whereas high incidence of normal pattern in the latter.
4) In cases with calcification in pancreatic head, all P. S. Tests were abnormal and their isotope images were visualized quite poorly.
5) So far as 32 cases are concerned, there was comparatively close correlation between R I images and exocrine functions based on P. S. Test.
In conclusion, it can be said that R I images give us fairly adequate informations about the pancreatic exocrine functions (P. S. Test).
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