Keywords:
Abdomen, Biliary Tract / Gallbladder, Radiographers, MR-Cholangiography, Contrast agent-oral, Artifacts, Obstruction / Occlusion
Authors:
W. Gilani, M. J. Lahaye, C. de Graaf, A. te Boekhorst, R. G. H. Beets-Tan
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2022/C-14251
Purpose
Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is a noninvasive imaging technique to visualize the biliary tree and the pancreatic ductal system. The technique used for this examination is based on heavy T2 weighted sequences, allowing only stationary fluid such as biliary and pancreatic fluids to be imaged, which allows the visualization of the morphology of the pancreaticobiliary system.1 However, the MRCP examination is plagued by artefacts caused by fluids, air and food in the stomach and bowels, especially the proximal duodenum. These organs tend to project over the pancreatic and bile ducts, which then can cause an incomplete and/or inaccurate diagnosis.2
Pineapple juice is used in other MRI protocols due to its high concentration of manganese. Manganese reduces the T1 and T2 relaxation times, thereby decreasing T2- and increasing T1 signal intensity. This suppresses the high signal intensity on DWI images.2
Therefore, the aim of this study was whether pineapple juice would improve the image quality of the MRCP examination.