Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas: changing perspective of the impact of surgery on patient outcome

Distinguishing benign from malignant main duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas by multislice helical computed tomography

Main duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (MD-IPMNs) of the pancreas are located in the dilated main pancreatic duct and associated with mucin overproduction. They may have a high degree of malignancy and lack specific clinical manifestations. With advantages of thin slice thickness, high resolution, multi-phase dynamic scan and multiple post-processing techniques, multislice helical computed tomography (MSCT) can accurately diagnose and differentiate malignant from benign MD-IPMNs. This paper will review the current advances in differentiating malignant from benign MD-IPMNs by MSCT.