[Pathologies observed in barium enema examination in patients with gynecological disorders]

The aim of our study was to analyse retrospectively 171 patients with gynaecological diseases, who have undergone barium enema examination in Third Teaching Hospital in Poznań between 1992 and 1998. 79 patients were diagnosed with ovarian tumours, in 24 cases their colon was dislocated. Stenosis was detected in 20 women and in five situations inflammatory changes of the colon were present. Malignant infiltration of large intestine was suspected in ten patients. The second group included 24 women diagnosed with tubo-ovarian abscesses and adnexitis. Three of them had dislocated colons. Stenosis of large bowel was detected in 11 patients and inflammatory changes in 8. In the next group of 35 patients' myoma uteri, myometrial endometriosis and carcinoma of colli uteri were detected. Barium enema examination revealed that 10 women had dislocated colons. In the third group stenosis was detected in eight cases, two patients had radiological signs of cancer infiltration and twice inflammatory changes of the large bowel were present. Frequency of radiological changes in barium enema examination was evaluated in the aforementioned groups. Results were compared with group of 33 patients treated for endocrinological disorders, sterility and minor pelvis pain syndrome. Frequency of dislocation of colon was compared with size of changes of ovaries measured during ultrasound examination. Our results showed that barium enema is still an important supplementary examination, which can give a great deal of beneficial information concerning the clinical condition of the patient. This procedure is useful before surgical intervention especially in cases of suspected ovarian cancer. We must underline that the same or similar information can be obtained using other methods without such radiation exposure.