Clinical Experience of Transportal Ultrasonography using Micro-probe for Pancreato-biliary Tract Malignancies

Osamu Watanabe¹⁾²⁾, Yoshiaki Tsuchiya¹⁾, Haruhiko Makino¹⁾, Mistuhiro Tsutsui¹⁾, Atsushi Nashimoto¹⁾, Muneaki Sano¹⁾, Juei Sasaki¹⁾

¹⁾Department of Surgery, Niigata Cancer Center Hospital
²⁾Department of Surgery, Tokyo Women's Medical College Daini Hospital

We performed the transportal ultrasonographv (TPUS) using a micro-probe (2.4 mm in outer diameter, radial scanning system, 15 MHz), which was inserted intra-operatively into the jejunal vein and led to the portal vein. TPUS revealed an intraportal tumor in a patient with choledocal carcinoma which formed a huge tumor behind the hepatoduodenal ligament. TPUS images demonstrated the intraportal tumor continuing with a low echoic mass, showing portal invasion of the choledocal carcinoma, that could not be diagnosed preoperatively by angiography. The other patient with pancreatic carcinoma had portal invasion of the carcinoma. TPUS images demonstrated the high echoic wall thickness of the affected portal vein. We conclude that TPUS can provide new information on the invasion of pancreato-biliary tract malignancies.

Key words
transportal ultrasonography, microscanner, ultrasonic micro-probe, biliary tract and pancreatic cancer, portal vein

Reprint requests
Osamu Watanabe Department of Surgery, Tokyo Women's Medical College Daini Hospital
2-1-10 Nishi-oku, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo, 116 JAPAN

Accepted
February 9, 1994

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