Background/Aim: Photon-counting detector computerised tomography (PCD-CT) is a novel imaging technique that may be beneficial in diagnostics and follow-up of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Patients and Methods: A prospective pilot including eight patients with confirmed PDAC was designed. Patients underwent conventional energy integrating detector CT (EID-CT) and PCD-CT, and corresponding arterial and venous phase images were compared in quantitative and qualitative manners. Five independent and method blinded reviewers scored each intra-individual pair of images. Results: Quantitative assessment showed an advantage favouring PCD-CT in terms of signal to noise ratio (SNR) in aortic, pancreatic, and PDAC tissue (p=0.003, 0.001, and 0.040, respectively). There was a non-significant tendency towards better edge sharpness in the PCD-CT images. Qualitative assessments of image quality revealed minor differences in some aspects of arterial phase, favouring the conventional EID-CT, however no statistically significant differences in terms of overall or venous phase parameters between the methods were evident. Conclusion: PCD-CT offers a novel method with potential benefits in imaging of pancreatic tumours. Further development of the protocol, including optimisation and validation in larger cohorts of patients, are necessary to define a potential role of PCD-CT in the management of PDAC.
Funding Agencies|Region Ostergotland [RO-975579, RO-991208, RO-995876]