ABSTRACT
Objective To study the sonographic features of solid-pseudopapillary tumors of the pancreas(SPTP) and to explore the value of ultrasound in the dignosis,differential dignosis and type of SPTP.Methods B-mode ultrasonography and color Doppler flow imaging(CDFI) of nine cases of SPTP confirmed by clinical and pathology were enrolled in the study and some cases were compared with the findings of computed tomography (CT).Results On B-mode ultrasound images,tumors showed solid,solid and cystic alternative distributions or cystic structures,presenting as round or oval shape,well-defined margins.Of these nine lesions,one was mainly composed of solid part,seven showed solid tumor with cystic component inside and one showed cystic tumor.All tumors were encapsulated.The encapsulation was completive in seven cases,incontinuous in one case and interruptive in one case.In CDFI,blood flow was found in five cases, three cases were I-brand,one case was II-brand,one case was III-brand.The peak systolic velocity ranged from 8.6 cm/s to 33.2 cm/s,three cases were less than 20 cm/s.Resistance index(RI) varied from 0.38 to 0.56 and three cases were lower than 0.5.According to the sonographic features of SPTP,combined with related reviews about the tumor,those masses were classified into three types as homogeneous solid,solid and cystic alternative distributions and cystic tumor.Conclusions The B-mode ultrasound and CDFI characteristic findings might be of great value in dignosis and differential dignosis of SPTP.