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PURPOSE: There is an unmet need for new systems with quantitative pancreatic imaging assessments to support better diagnosis and understand development of chronic pancreatitis (CP). The aims were to present such an approach for assessment of imaging features in CP, to apply this system in a multi-center cohort of CP patients (feasibility study), and to report inter-reader agreement between expert radiologists (validation study).METHODS: The feasibility study included pancreatic computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from 496 patients with definitive CP in the Scandinavian Baltic Pancreatic Club (SBPC) database. Images were assessed according to the new SBPC imaging system (quantitative assessments of ductal and parenchymal features). Inter-reader agreement of reported imaging parameters was investigated for 80 CT and 80 MRI examinations by two expert radiologists.RESULTS: Reporting of the imaging features into the imaging system was deemed feasible for > 80% of CT and > 90% of MRI examinations. Quantitative assessments of main pancreatic duct diameters, presence/number/diameter of calcifications, and gland diameters had high levels of inter-reader agreement with κ-values of 0.75-0.87 and intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.74-0.97. The more subjective assessments, e.g., irregular main pancreatic duct and dilated side-ducts, had poor to moderate agreement with κ-values of 0.03-0.44.CONCLUSION: The presented system provides a feasible mean for systematic assessment of CP imaging features. Imaging parameters based on quantitative assessment, as opposed to subjective assessments, have better reproducibility and should be preferred in the development of new grading systems for understanding pathophysiology and disease progression in CP.

Postembolization syndrome (PES) is the most common side effect of vascular embolization of solid organs. The aim of this review was to determine the incidence of PES and its individual components after prostatic artery embolization (PAE). A systematic review with a pre-specified search strategy for PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. Studies in English regarding PAE in humans with 10 or more participants were eligible for inclusion. No restrictions on participant demographics or PAE technique were imposed. The search returned 378 references, of which 32 studies with a total of 2116 patients met the inclusion criteria. The results for overall PES frequency and individual PES components were presented as median (interquartile range, (IQR)). Overall median PES frequency was 25.5% (12.5–45.8). The two most frequent individual PES components were dysuria/urethral burning and local pain, with a median frequency of 21.7% (13.8–33.3) and 20% (5.4–29.4), respectively. Most outcome measures were characterized by a marked lack of uniformity and inconsistency in reporting across studies. Development of a uniform reporting system would help the clinicians recognize and treat PES accordingly.