Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is an uncommon chronic liver disease which affects approximately seven people in every 100,000 in the UK. Accurate diagnosis is critical to ensure patients with rare hepatobiliary diseases such as PSC receive the right care and avoid invasive and expensive alternative investigations. There is currently no effective curative treatment aside from a liver transplant.
Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) which is currently used in the standard pathway does not provide a clear image or objective assessment of the biliary tree (a system of vessels from the liver, gallbladder and pancreas). Perspectum Diagnostics’ MRCP+ provides a non-invasive, objective, quantitative and reproducible means of assessing biliary health. It produces a 3D MRCP image of the biliary tree and a quantitative report including the whole tree’s metrics as well as single duct metrics which allow for more precise and objective identification of biliary irregularities.
Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley produced a feasibility study to assess the potential clinical utility and value of this novel technology in the current pathway. The study also highlighted its potential use in other pathways which could include post-surgical liver transplant monitoring, planning endoscopic treatments and other biliary tree indications.
