Assessing Splenic Vein Complicationsin 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.