The diagnostic value of magnetic resonance imaging for the detection of tumor recurrence in patients with carcinoma of the ovaries.

Disease status during follow-up evaluation of patients with carcinoma of the ovaries is the main criterion for the selection of appropriate management. A cohort analysis was performed to investigate if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could improve noninvasive assessment of disease status in patients with carcinoma of the ovaries during follow-up examination. Twenty-four women with carcinoma of the ovaries after primary surgical treatment with subsequent platinum containing chemotherapy were entered into the study. MRI was performed in addition to sonography and computed tomography (CT). Patients without evidence of disease underwent restaging laparotomy. Sensitivity of sonography, CT and MRI was 50, 63 and 75 percent, respectively. Combination of CT and MRI revealed a 75 percent sensitivity rate. Specificity for sonography, CT and MRI was 100, 94 and 94 percent, respectively, and for the combination of CT and MRI, 88 percent. Positive and negative predictive value and accuracy of these methods were 100, 80 and 83 percent for sonography; 83, 83 and 83 percent for CT; 86, 88 and 88 percent for MRI, and 75, 88 and 83 percent for the combination of CT and MRI. In one instance of false-negative sonographic and CT results, MRI detected recurrence located in postoperative scar tissue. In one instance, MRI did not add essential information to the other imaging methods. Therefore, MRI as a time- and cost-intensive procedure should be reserved for instances in which there are doubtful findings arising with other diagnostic tools, rather than as an indispensable routine procedure in the follow-up evaluation of patients with carcinoma of the ovaries.