Diagnosis of Annular Pancreas Using Minimum Intensity Projection of Multidetector Row CT: Case Report

the pancreas in which a section of pancreatic tissue completely or partially encircles the second portion of duodenum, and the anatomical anomaly frequently results in varying degrees of duodenal obstruction (1). About half of all patients with annular pancreas present with their initial symptoms in adulthood (2). Symptomatic cases should be surgically treated, but the diagnosis of annular pancreas is usually made by the endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). However, ERCP is an invasive method and it can fail at times due to the inability to pass the endoscope to a point required for cannulation (3). Recently developed multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT) and the parallel improvements in the capabilities of the workstations allow for the high quality minimum intensity projection (MinIP) technique, and this provides detailed information on the pancreatic ductal anatomy (4). We present here a case of annular pancreas and its aberrant pancreatic duct that was clearly shown on MDCT using the MinIP images.