Objective: We compared early-phase CT with late-phase CT in the evaluation of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Materials and methods: Both early- and late-phase CT images of 25 pancreatic adenocarcinomas were compared with surgical-pathologic findings. We evaluated tumor detectability, tumor size, and local tumor invasion.

Results: Tumor detectability was 96% on early-phase CT imaging and 64% on late-phase CT imaging (p < .01). Sensitivity for anterior serosal invasion, retroperitoneal invasion, and arterial invasion on early-phase CT exceeded sensitivity on late-phase CT (p < .05). However, specificity for all factors on early-phase CT was less than or equal to specificity on late-phase CT. The grade of local tumor invasion on early-phase CT achieved better agreement with the surgical-pathologic results than did late-phase CT, especially for tumor size and retroperitoneal invasion.

Conclusion: Early-phase CT was better than late-phase CT in revealing tumors, tumor size, and retroperitoneal invasion.