ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) has achieved widespread success as a diagnostic tool for hepatobiliary lesions. MRCP offers an effective method of hepatobiliary diagnosis that is safer than the use of invasive procedures, namely endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, and is more accurate than ultrasound. AIM: The aim of the study was to assess the diagnostic quality and overall accuracy of MRCP for the evaluation of hepatobiliary lesions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty patients (42 male, 38 female; mean age, 38.3 years) suspected for hepatobiliary lesions were enrolled in this study. MRCP protocols applied for imaging of the hepatobiliary system were T2-weighted fast spin echo sequence on axial and coronal planes; three-dimensional, fat suppressed, heavily T2-weighted fast spin echo sequence with multislab acquisition mode; two-dimensional thick single slab projectional images, and three-dimensional reconstruction algorithms. RESULTS: Among the patients, jaundice and biliary colic were the commonest clinical complaints. MRCP has detected different pathologic entities among congenital anomalies, inflammatory conditions, neoplastic disorders, and postoperative and post-traumatic complications. The MRCP diagnosis was compared with the final diagnosis reached by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, surgical, or histopathologic data. MRCP has a high overall diagnostic accuracy of 97%, sensitivity of 98%, and specificity of 93%. CONCLUSIONS: MRCP provides a safe, noninvasive, accurate diagnostic tool in detection of the presence and level of biliary obstruction and also denotes its cause with high accuracy.
