A prospective study of radionuclide biliary scanning in acute pancreatitis
Blamey, S.L.; Ballantyne, K.C.; McArdle, C.S.
Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 65(5): 352
1983
ISSN/ISBN: 0035-8843 PMID: 6614782 Document Number: 200234
Early surgery for biliary pancreatitis has resulted in a need for an accurate method of gallstone detection in acute pancreatitis. Fifty patients with acute pancreatitis were studied prospectively to assess the diagnostic value of radionuclide biliary scanning (RBS) performed within 72 h of an attack. To assess the general accuracy of RBS a further 154 patients with suspected acute cholecystitis or biliary colic were similarly studied. There were 34 patients with biliary pancreatitis and 18 (53%) had a positive scan (no gallbladder seen). There were 16 patients with nonbiliary pancreatitis and 5 (31%) had a positive scan. All 51 patients with acute cholecystitis had a positive scan, as did 82% of the 51 patients with biliary colic. There were 52 patients with no biliary or pancreatic disease and none of these had a positive scan. RBS is highly accurate in confirming a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis or biliary colic. However, it cannot be relied on to differentiate between biliary and nonbiliary pancreatitis and should certainly not be used as the basis for biliary surgery in these patients.