Original article—liver, pancreas, and biliary tractHigh Prevalence of Pancreatic Cysts Detected by Screening Magnetic Resonance Imaging Examinations
Section snippets
Patients
For this study we included consecutive individuals who had undergone an abdominal MRI in the Mathias Spital Hospital in Rheine, Germany, as part of a preventive medical examination. All examinations were arranged through Prescan (Hengelo, The Netherlands), a commercial agency offering preventive health check-ups, including MRI (www.prescan.nl). All individuals were Dutch, but the investigations were performed in a German hospital just across the Dutch-German border because in The Netherlands it
Retrospective Evaluation
Between December 2006 and September 2008 a total of 2803 first-time MRI scans had been performed and these were all included in this study. Mean age at the time of MRI investigation was 51.1 years (standard deviation, 10.8 y) and 65% of individuals were men. Pancreatic cysts were identified in 66 individuals, representing a prevalence of 2.4% (95% CI, 1.8–3.0). Age was associated positively (odds ratio, 1.087; 95% CI, 1.060–1.113) with the presence of pancreatic cysts. In 443 individuals
Discussion
Pancreatic cysts are discovered with increasing frequency because of a more liberal application of cross-sectional imaging techniques, not only for medical indications but also because apparently healthy individuals seek preventive medical consultation including whole-body MRI scanning. The apparent question is how to proceed after the detection of a pancreatic cyst in an asymptomatic individual. In clinical practice, most cysts are analyzed extensively, including the application of endoscopic
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Conflicts of interest The authors disclose no conflicts.