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Transabdominal ultrasonography of the pancreas: basic and new aspects

Friedemann G Erchinger, Georg Dimcevski, Trond Engjom and Odd H Gilja

Ultrasonography as a diagnostic tool has made important contributions to the technical revolution in medical imaging over the last decades. It has become the preferred method for first-line imaging in a broad spectrum of diseases. This article focuses on basic and advanced applications of transabdominal ultrasonography in pancreatic imaging. The first section describes technical principles and their consequences for image quality: harmonic imaging, Doppler, duplex, triplex ultrasonography, power Doppler, contrast-enhanced ultrasonography, panoramic imaging and elastography. The second section briefly describes examination procedures and scanning techniques with the aim to obtain complete visualization of the pancreas. In the third section we outline ultrasonographic characteristics of pancreatic diseases with emphasis on contrast-enhanced ultrasound and elastography.