Role of Contrast Enhanced MRI and Diffusion Weighted (DWI) MR image in Evaluation of Ovarian Masses

Abstract

Ovarian tumors; are the second most common gynecological tumor and is the fifth commonest tumor in women. Although the final diagnosis of an ovarian tumor is based on the histological examination, it is desirable to preoperatively differentiate between benign, border line tumors and invasive ovarian cancers, in order to decide if surgery is required, and which type of surgery is appropriate. Thus, it can help avoiding unnecessary surgery especially in postmenopausal women and help deciding for conservative surgery for young ones wishing to preserve childbearing potential. TVUS is the first imaging modality that can be used for detection of adnexal mass lesion. However, lesion characterization is done with the help of MRI. Conventional MRI provides soft tissue characterization based on different signal intensities and contrast uptake in post contrast images. Being a cost effective choice, and in addition to its ability for accurate diagnosis, it can replace computed tomography (CT) in preoperative assessment with the development of recent technologies, new functional MRI sequences are being used. Of these, is the diffusion weighted images (DWI) and dynamic contrast enhanced MRI(DCE-MRI). DWI is used in the abdomen and pelvis after it has been established as a useful functional imaging tool in neurologic applications for a number of