[Anatomy of the female pelvis on MRI: value of intravaginal contrast]. / Anatomie pelvienne en IRM: apport du contraste vaginal.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Prospective monocentric study to determine the feasibility, tolerability and diagnostic value of intravaginal contrast to assess female pelvic anatomy on MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-nine consecutive women referred for MRI evaluation of the pelvis, irrespective of the indication, were included in this study. The MR imaging protocol consisted of axial and sagittal T2W images before and after intravaginal instillation of sterile US gel. Eight anatomical regions were analyzed and their visibility graded from 1 to 4 (1=excellent; 4=non-visualized) by 3 radiologists without and with intravaginal gel. The value of intravaginal gel was determined by calculating the difference in the visibility index for each anatomical region by the Wilcoxon and khi2 tests. Inter-observer agreement was also determined using the kappa test. RESULTS: Two women declined vaginal opacification resulting in an acceptance rate of 96%. The gel instillation procedure had a duration of less than 3 minutes on average and was well tolerated by all patients. Intravaginal gel allowed significantly improved visualization of all anatomical regions (p<0.001); improvement between 0.5 and 2.5 points on average per anatomical region. Inter-observer agreement significantly improved after gel instillation increasing from 72% to 92%. CONCLUSION: Intravaginal instillation of US gel is simple, noninvasive, well-accepted and well-tolerated by patients. It increases visibility of pelvic anatomical structures with improved inter-observer agreement.