Magnetic resonance imaging as a diagnostic tool in case of ovarian masses in girls and young women.
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.
Bekiesińska-Figatowska
Monika
M
Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland. zaklad.rtg@imid.med.pl <zaklad.rtg@imid.med.pl>
Jurkiewicz
Elzbieta
E
Iwanowska
Beata
B
Uliasz
Maria
M
Romaniuk-Doroszewska
Anna
A
Bragoszewska
Hanna
H
Ceran
Alicja
A
Olszewski
Andrzej
A
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