CORRELATION OF MULTIDETECTOR COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IMAGING WITH SURGICAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN PANCREATIC CANCER RESECTABILITY ASSESSMENT
Keywords:
Pancreatic cancer, Multidetector Computed Tomography, MDCT, Resectability, Diagnostic accuracy, Sensitivity, Specificity, PPV, NPV, Histopathology, Surgical correlationAbstract
Background: Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignancy with poor survival rates. Accurate preoperative assessment of tumor resectability is crucial, as surgical resection remains the only potential curative option. Multidetector Computed Tomography (MDCT) is widely used for staging and evaluating resectability.
Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of MDCT in predicting pancreatic cancer resectability by correlating imaging findings with surgical and histopathological outcomes.
Methods: A prospective diagnostic study was conducted on 60 patients with suspected pancreatic adenocarcinoma at Jinnah Hospital Lahore. All patients
underwent contrast-enhanced MDCT using a standard pancreatic protocol. Imaging findings including tumor size, location, vascular involvement, lymph node status, and metastasis were recorded. These findings were compared with intraoperative surgical observations and histopathological results. Diagnostic accuracy parameters such as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated.
Results: The mean age of patients was 61.7 ± 7.46 years with equal gender distribution. Most tumors were located in the pancreatic head. MDCT classified 38.3% of cases as resectable, whereas surgical findings confirmed 28.3% as resectable. MDCT demonstrated sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 86.0%, PPV of 73.9%, and NPV of 100%. A statistically significant association was observed between MDCT findings and surgical outcomes (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: MDCT showed high diagnostic accuracy in assessing pancreatic cancer resectability, with excellent sensitivity and negative predictive value. It demonstrated strong correlation with surgical and histopathological findings, making it reliable for preoperative evaluation. However, limitations remain in borderline cases and precise assessment of vascular invasion
