Role ofdiffusion weighted and perfusion weighted imaging in characterization of ovarian tumours

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 preferred to preoperatively characterize and 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, helping to avoid unnecessary surgery especially in postmenopausal women and help deciding for conservative surgery for young women wishing to preserve childbearing potential. US is the first imaging modality that can be used for detection of adnexal mass lesions. CT also is used for detection of distant metastasis of the tumour however; it has limited capapbility of assessing local metastasis. However, more accurate lesion characterization is done through MRI. Conventional MRI provides soft tissue characterization based on different signal intensities and contrast uptake in post contrast images.