Splanchnic vein thrombosis in necrotizing acute pancreatitis: Detection by computed tomographic venography.

AIM: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomographic venography (CTV) for splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT) detection in necrotizing acute pancreatitis (AP) patients.

METHODS: Forty-three patients with necrotizing AP who underwent both CTV and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) within 3 d were analyzed in this retrospective comparative study. All CTV procedures were performed with a dual-source CT scanner. The presence and location of SVT were determined via blinded imaging data analyses.

RESULTS: According to the DSA results, 17 (39.5%) of the total 43 patients had SVT. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of CTV for SVT detection were 100% (95%CI: 77.1%-100%), 92.3% (95%CI: 73.4%-98.7%), 89.5% (95%CI: 65.5%-98.2%) and 100% (95%CI: 82.8%-100%), respectively.

CONCLUSION: CTV is an effective examination for SVT detection in patients with necrotizing AP with high positive and negative predictive values.