Preoperative diagnosis of perineural invasion in patients with periampullary carcinoma by MSCT imaging: preliminary observations and clinical implications

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the value of multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) in preoperatively diagnosing perineural invasion (PNI) of periampullary carcinoma (PAC). Methods Of 81 patients pathologically diagnosed as PAC, 73 patients were included. Their clinical documents and preoperative upper abdominal enhanced MSCT images were retrospectively reviewed to analyse clinical characteristics and MSCT features. MSCT features included tumor size, classification of fat tissue around celiac trunk and superior mesenteric artery. Chi-square test, Mann–Whitney U test or Fisher’s exact test were used to compare the differences between PNI group and Non-PNI group. ROC analysis was performed to evaluate diagnostic efficiency for PAC PNI. Results There were significant differences in some clinical characteristics and MSCT features. PAC PNI patients had significantly higher CA19-9 levels, higher CEA levels, larger tumor size and higher classification of fat tissue around celiac trunk than Non-PNI patients (All P values < 0.05). In univariate analysis, tumor size had the highest AUC as 0.806, fat tissue around celiac trunk and CEA had the highest specificity as 100% ( P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, classification of fat tissue around celiac trunk incorporated with tumor size, CA19-9, CEA, age and sex, showed the highest AUC as 0.939, with specificity of 95.0% and sensitivity of 90.4% ( P < 0.001). Conclusion PAC PNI could be diagnosed preoperatively by evaluating abdominal enhanced MSCT images with high accuracy, combined with serum tumor marker could be more helpful.