Purpose: To prospectively compare MR cholangiopancreaticography (MRCP) vs. endoscopic retrograde pancreaticography (ERCP) in patients with suspected common bile duct (CBD) stone disease.
Material and methods: Fifty consecutive patients with suspected CBD disease underwent MRCP and then ERCP within 12 h of each other. The result of the MRCP was blinded to the reader of the ERCP. The MRCP was done using a superconducting 1.0 T unit with a heavily T2-weighted breath-hold technique. The ERCP was done in the fluoroscopy suite by one of the clinicians and was evaluated by one of the radiologists who had not read the MRCP examinations.
Results: There were 28 true-positives, 17 true-negatives, 1 false-positive, and 4 false-negatives. The sensitivity was 87.5% and the specificity 94.4%, respectively. The positive predictive value was 96.6% and the negative predictive value was 81.1%.
Conclusion: MRCP was shown to be good enough to replace ERCP as a diagnostic method in patients with suspected CBD disease. MRCP is now our modality of choice after ultrasound in the diagnostic evaluation of these patients.