title: Abdominopelvic computed tomography in the preoperative evaluation of suspected ovarian masses.
abstract: To evaluate the efficacy of computed tomography (CT) in 175 patients scheduled to undergo surgery for a suspected ovarian mass, we compared preoperative CT findings with the findings at surgery and histology. At surgery, 115 patients were found to have epithelial ovarian malignancies (20 stage 1, 7 stage II, 50 stage III and 38 stage IV) while 60 had benign pelvic tumors. CT findings were suggestive of malignancy in 4 (7%) of 60 patients with benign tumors and suggestive of benign disease in 3 (3%) of 115 patients with malignant ovarian tumors; 30% of all scans were inconclusive. The sensitivity of CT for predicting pelvic or para-aortic lymph node involvement in 42 patients who underwent lymphadenectomy was 62 and 70%, respectively; the specificity was 100%. The results of this series suggest that the routine use of CT in the preoperative evaluation of patients does not seem justified.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Radiology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: E.
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petru
authors.forename: F.
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: P.
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mikosch
authors.forename: H.
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pickel
authors.forename: M.
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lahousen
authors.forename: K.
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamussino
authors.forename: N.
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grüendler
authors.forename: E.
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Posch