title: Magnetic resonance imaging as a diagnostic tool in case of ovarian masses in girls and young women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gynecological examination and transvaginal ultrasound are difficult or impossible in girls and young women who have not started their sexual life. CT is not a method of choice in this age group because of the ionizing radiation and iodine-containing contrast media. MRI is chosen then.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pelvic MRI was performed in 15 patients aged 9-19 years with suspected ovarian mass after they had had unclear gynecological and sonographic examinations. 1.5 T MRI systems were used. SE,T(F)SE and SPIR sequences were applied in T1- and T2-weighted images in three planes. Contrast media were administered in 7 patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In a group of 3 girls with acute abdominal pain, polycystic ovaries, ovarian hemorrhagic cyst, and fibroma of the ovary were diagnosed. In a group of 11 patients with chronic abdominal pain, dermoid cysts of the ovaries were found in 7 cases, in one bilateral and accompanied by ectopic kidney. In 2 patients, serous cysts were diagnosed. In 2 cases an ovarian origin of the mass was excluded: multilocular cystic lesion in the presacral region and a hydatid mole were revealed. A neoplastic ovarian mass was diagnosed in a girl with increasing circumference of the abdomen. The accuracy of MRI in localizing lesions was 100%. Its accuracy in precisely characterizing lesions was 83.3%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Magnetic resonance imaging, with its noninvasiveness, high spatial resolution, and tissue specificity, is a method of choice in the diagnosis or exclusion of ovarian pathology in children and adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland. zaklad.rtg@imid.med.pl <zaklad.rtg@imid.med.pl>
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bekiesińska-Figatowska
authors.forename: Elzbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jurkiewicz
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Iwanowska
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uliasz
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romaniuk-Doroszewska
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bragoszewska
authors.forename: Alicja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ceran
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olszewski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010049:Ovarian Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D011859:Radiography; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity