Roentgen Diagnosis of Pancreatic Disease

Until recent years, plain abdominal films and regular gastroduodenal roentgen examination were essentially the only radiologic techniques applied to the diagnosis of diseases of the pancreas.1-4A great increase in interest in the problems of diagnosis of diseases of this organ has been evidenced of late by the development of a variety of techniques designed to investigate the pancreas. Among these techniques may be mentioned operative pancreatography,5pancreatic angiography,6pneumoretroperitoneal pancreatography,7intravenous cholangiography,8percutaneous direct cholangiography,9and splenoportography.7In addition, considerable research effort has been expended in the development—as yet unsuccessful—of compounds for the direct opacification of the pancreas.10-12Until these efforts are successful, we will be limited to the indirect methods of visualization, which are the basis both of the older and the more recent methods mentioned above and which are attended with great diagnostic difficulty, from the standpoint of both