Diagnostic benefit of MRCP in hepatopancreaticobiliary diseases in children

ObjectiveThis study aimed at determination of the diagnostic benefit of MRCP as a noninvasive method to evaluate the hepatopancreaticobiliary disorders in children.Materials and methodsThe study retrospectively enrolled 34 patients undergoing MRCP for suspected hepatopancreaticobiliary abnormalities. MRCP findings were compared with other imaging modalities, ERCP or operative findings.ResultsMRCP had overall sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of 93.5%, 100% and 94.1% respectively in detecting the etiology of hepatopancreaticobiliary diseases in our patients. Positive predictive value was 100% while the negative predictive value was 62.5%.ConclusionMRCP is a fast, non-invasive method for diagnosing hepatopancreaticobiliary disorders in children with high diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. MRCP doesn’t involve the use of ionizing radiation which is suitable for children. Thus, MRCP ought to be the standard diagnostic procedure in the future.