[Assessing splenic vein complications in patients with acute pancreatitis using color Doppler ultrasound and contrast enhanced ultrasound].

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic value of color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) and contrast enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) for splenic vein complications (SVCs).

Methods: 144 inpatients (86 male, 58 female) with acute pancreatitis from Jan 2012 to Apr 2013 were recruited for this study. The participants had a mean age of (44.3 +/- 11.9) years. All participants were examined using CDFI, CEUS and contrast enhanced computer tomography (CECT) (less than 72 h interval between examinations). The CECT results were regarded as a golden standard, which were compared with the results of CDFI and CEU. The Medcalc 12.7.1.0 was used for drawing ROC curves and calculating AUC.

Results: The CECT confirmed 17 cases of SVCs; whereas, the CEUS identified 12 cases and the CDFI identified 4 cases of SVCs. The difference between the results of CDFI and CEUS was significant (Z = 2.233, P < 0.05). Higher levels of sensitivity (58.82%), specificity (98.43%), accuracy (93.75%), positive likelihood ratio (37.46), and negative likelihood ratio (0. 42) were found using CEUS for diagnosing SVCs, compared with those of using CDFI (sensitivity = 17.65%, specificity = 99.21%, accuracy = 89.58%, positive likelihood ratio = 22.34,negative likelihood ratio = 0.83). The area of AUC were 0.618 and 0.853 for CDFI and CEUS, respectively.

Conclusion: CEUS is a better imaging method for diagnosing SVCs in patients with acute pancreatitis.