Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Assessment of Recurrence of Gynecological Malignancy in Iraqi Patients

Background pelvis MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) isa noninvasive diagnostic tooland commonly used in follow up of patients with gynecological cancer as the pelvis is most common site of local recurrence. Objectives The main purpose of this study was to explore the diagnostic effectiveness of pelvic MRI in determining, characterization and detection of pelvic recurrence in patients with gynecological malignancy. Methods eighty patients with gynecological malignancy who had their treatment in oncology teaching hospital underwent follow up pelvis MRI with IV (intravenous)contrast in period between September 2015 to December 2016, thepatients' age range from 36 to 78 years. Resultsendometrial cancer is the leading gynecological malignancy, but thank God most patients (75%) show no pelvic recurrence on MRI with IV contrast, while most of those with recurrence show lesions in surgical bed in 8% of the cases, on another hand cervical cancer had high local pelvis recurrence of about 60% in remote cervix- bed- and 24% within regional lymphatic chains, unfortunately ovarian cancer shows pessimistic results as it shows 83% recurrence in form of pelvic mass or regional adenopathy, ascites and peritoneal and omental seeding. Conclusion MRI is a required tool in evaluation and follow up of patients with suspicious recurrence after gynecological malignancy surgery , its value was illustrated in characterization and diagnosis of pelvis lesion (s) by depending on their appearance on T1, T2 and fat suppression T2 MRI sequences in addition to assess their enhancement pattern after IV contrast injection.