Evaluation of Diagnostic Value of CT Scan, Physical Examination and Ultrasound Based on Pathological Findings In Patients with Pelvic Masses

Abstract

<br/><b>Objective</b>: Because benign and malignant cervical and ovarian masses occur with different percentagesin different age groups,the importance of primary diagnosis and selection of a suitable surgical procedure isunderlined. Diagnosis of pelvic masses is carried out using ultrasound,physical examination, CT scan and MRI.The objective of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic value of CT scan in pelvic masses in comparison withphysical examination-ultrasound based on pathology of the lesion in patients undergoing laparotomic surgery.<br/><b>Methods</b>:This analytic-descriptive study focused on age, sonographic findings, physical examinations,CTscan and pathological findings in 139 patients with pelvic mass, gathered with questionnaires and statisticallyanalayzed using the SPSS software programme. <br/><b>Results</b>: Of 139 patients with pelvic mass(patients aged from 17to 75 years old), 62 (44%) cases were diagnosed as benign and 77(55.4%) as malignant; among them malignanttratoma serocyst adenocarsinoma with 33 (23.7%) cases and benign myoma with 21(15.2%) cases comprised themost frequent cases. The sensitivity and specificity of sonography-physical examination were 51.9% and 87.9%respectively and the sensitivity and specificity of CT scan images were 79.2% and 91.6% respectively.It wasshown that CT scan images were more consistant with pathological findings in predicting appropriate surgicalprocedures than do sonography-physical examinations. <br/><b>Conclusion</b>:The sensitivity of CT scan is far higher thanthat of sonography-physical examination in the diagnosis of pelvic mass malignancy.