Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas: safety of MR imaging protocol over 10 years follow-up. Preliminary data.

Purpose To evaluate the safety of a MR imaging procotol in assessing the evolution of individuals with branch duct - intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (BD-IPMN) without “worrisome features” (WF) and/or “high risk stigmata” (HRS) at the time of the diagnosis with a follow-up of at least 10 years. Methods and Materials A revision of a prospectively collected radiological database including a total number of 600 patients who were investigated and diagnosed with IPMN at our Department since 2008 was performed. Among them, we selected a group of patients with “presumed” diagnosis of BD-IPMN at MRI/MRCP. Inclusion criteria were the absence of WF and/or HRS at the time of diagnosis and a radiological follow-up with abdominal MRI/MRCP for at least 10 years. Results Our final cohort included a series of sixty-nine patients fulfilling all the inclusion criteria. During surveillance, the cysts remained dimensionally unchanged or slightly reduced in size in 18/69 (26%) and 3/69 (4,3%) cases, respectively. In the remaining 48/69 (69,5%) cases, cyst enlargement was demonstrate with median annual growth rate of 0,97± 0,87 mm/yr (range 0,13-5,0). WF and HRS developed in 10/69 (14,5%) and 3/69 (4,3%) cases, respectively. In our study group only five patients (7,2%). Conclusion In our study group the incidence of pancreatic cancer in patients with BD-IPMN is 2,9%. Our data support the safety of our surveillance MR imaging protocol