The differentiation of pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: the values of CT imaging features and texture analysis

Background Imaging findings for pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma (PNEC) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) often overlap. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the value of computed tomography (CT) imaging features and texture analysis to differentiate PNEC from PDAC. Methods Twenty-eight patients with pathologically-proved PDAC and 14 patients with PNEC were included in this study. CT imaging findings, including tumor boundary, size, enhancement degree, duct dilatation and parenchymal atrophy were used to compare PDAC and PNEC. CT texture features were extracted from CT images at the arterial and portal phases. Results More PNEC than PDAC had well-defined margins (57.1% vs 25.0%, p = 0.04). Parenchymal atrophy was more common in PDAC than in PNEC (67.9% vs 28.1%, p = 0.02). CT attenuation values (HU) and contrast ratios of PNEC inthe arterial and portal phases were higher than those of PDAC ( p < 0.05 or 0.01). Entropy was lower and uniformity was higher in PNEC compare to PDAC at the arterial phase (p < 0.05). Contrast ratio showed the highest area under curve (AUC) for differentiating PNEC from PDAC (AUC = 0.98–0.99). Entropy and uniformity also showed an acceptable AUC (0.71–0.72). Conclusions Our data indicate that CT imaging features, including tumor margin, enhanced degree and parenchymal atrophy, as well as texture parameters can aid in the differentiation of PNEC from PDAC.