Pelvic inflammatory disease: evaluation of diagnostic accuracy with conventional MR with added diffusion-weighted...

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Gynecology

Background:

• Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a significant cause of female infertility and chronic pelvic pain.
• Accurate and timely diagnosis of PID is crucial for effective treatment and prevention of long-term complications.
• Conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has limitations in definitively diagnosing PID.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the added diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted (DW) MR imaging sequences in patients with suspected pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
• To compare the diagnostic accuracy of conventional MR imaging with combined conventional and DW MR imaging for PID.

Main Methods:

• A prospective study involving 187 patients with clinically suspected PID.
• Conventional MR imaging was augmented with DW sequences for all participants.
• Imaging findings analyzed included lesion characteristics, free pelvic fluid, and lymphadenopathy.

Main Results:

• The addition of DW imaging to conventional MR protocols increased the accuracy for diagnosing PID from 91.2% to 97.5%.
• Sensitivity for PID diagnosis improved from 90.7% to 98.4% with the inclusion of DW sequences.
• Specificity remained high, with DW imaging showing a negative predictive value of 93.3%.

Conclusions:

• Diffusion-weighted (DW) MR imaging sequences enhance the diagnostic accuracy of conventional MR imaging for pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
• The integration of DW imaging represents a valuable advancement in the radiological assessment of PID.