Characterization of tubo-ovarian abscess mimicking adnexal masses: Comparison between contrast-enhanced CT, 18F–FDG PET/CT and MRI

Abstract

0bjective: We compared the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT), fluorine 18-labeled–fludeoxyglucose (18F–FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without and with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for characterization of tubo-ovarian abscesses (TOAs) that mimic adnexal tumors. Materials and Methods: We evaluated (retrospectively) 43 patients who underwent contrast-enhanced CT, PET/CT, conventional MRI without and with DWI, and who were found to have TOAs and complex adnexal tumors. All images were evaluated independently by four radiologists using a two-point grading system. Results of contrast-enhanced CT, PET/CT, MRI without DWI, and MRI with DWI were compared for each patient using receiver operating characteristic curves. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) were calculated and compared using the chi-square test. Results: Sensitivity of MRI with DWI (95%) was significantly higher than that of contrast-enhanced CT (78.6%), PET/CT (86.7%) and MRI without DWI (87.5%). Specificities of these modalities were not significantly different. The PPV of MRI with DWI (100%) was significantly higher than that of the other three modalities (CT, 72.4%; PET/CT 78.5%; MRI without DWI, 81.5%). Overall accuracy of MRI with DWI was significantly higher than that of the other three modalities (CT, 74.4%; PET/CT, 81.4%; MRI without DWI, 83.7%). Conclusion: MRI with DWI shows high accuracy for characterization of complex ovarian lesions, and is the most useful method for differentiation of TOAs from ovarian tumors.

Keywords

• CT
• DWI
• MRI
• PET
• Tubo-ovarian abscesses