Search

Background/aims: At present a pancreatic pseudocyst puncture guided by ultrasonography is a treatment of choice in the majority of hospitals. A classical two-dimensional sonography is usually implemented in these cases. However, its shortcomings, mainly in differential diagnosis, are acknowledged by most physicians. The real time monitoring of a fine-needle pseudocyst procedure by two-dimensional ultrasonography is of questionable reliability. In our study we evaluated the usefulness of three-dimensional sonography in the percutaneous fine-needle pancreatic pseudocyst puncture., Methodology: We examined fifty-two patients diagnosed as having pancreatic pseudocysts on the basis of clinical symptoms and two-dimensional ultrasonography findings. Then the decision to qualify certain patients for the percutaneous fine-needle aspiration guided by ultrasonography was made on the basis of two- and three-dimensional scan results. The next step in our investigation was to implement color Doppler in order to visualize all blood vessels at the planned biopsy site. Three-dimensional sonography was used to monitor the tip of the needle making its way to the pancreatic pseudocyst and later inside the fluid collection., Results: Pancreatic pseudocysts were diagnosed in all of the 52 cases. Three-dimensional sonography was more precise in visualizing the shape and size than two-dimensional ultrasound scans., Conclusions: Three-dimensional presentation can better visualize irregular shapes, local thickenings, and calcification of pseudocyst walls than classical two-dimensional ultrasound scans. The use of subtraction in three-dimensional scans of blood vessels increases the safety in performing biopsies. It makes the aspiration of cytologic materials much safer to perform. In our study we have shown that three-dimensional sonography collects extremely useful information about the status of the pseudocyst structure and it should become a complementary method to classical ultrasonography. This technique when used on a routine basis ought to help us change the inclusion criteria for guided biopsies.