Peritoneal Carcinomatosis in Primary Ovarian Cancer: Ultrasound Detection and Comparison with Computed Tomography

We retrospectively compared detection rates and consistency for diagnosis of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) of primary ovarian cancer (OC) between ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT) scans in 41 patients whose PC of OC (stages IIC-IV) had been diagnosed by histopathology findings. Compared with CT detection rates, those for US were significantly higher for metastases to the pelvic area (92.3% vs. 43.6%, p < 0.001) and bowel surface (64.0% vs. 16.0%, p = 0.002); however, they did not significantly differ for other sites: omentum, diaphragm, lateral peritoneum, mesenteric, hepatic and splenic surfaces. Diagnostic consistency between US and CT scans were fair to moderate for splenic (κ = 0.806), hepatic (κ = 0.485), lateral peritoneum (κ = 0.450) and diaphragm (κ = 0.338) surfaces, but poorly consistent for other parts (κ = 0.144-0.229). In summary, US can complement CT scans, especially for detecting PC of primary OC metastases in pelvic and bowel surfaces.