Whole-body diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of recurrent ovarian cancer: a clinical feasibility study

Objective:To assess the clinical feasibility of whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI (WB-DWI/MRI) for diagnosis and prediction of complete tumour resection in patients with suspected recurrent ovarian cancer.Methods:51 females clinically suspected for ovarian cancer recurrence underwent 3-T WB-DWI/MRI in addition to contrast-enhanced CT. WB-DWI/MRI was assessed for detection of tumour recurrence, prediction of tumour extent and complete resection compared with CT. Tumour presence was confirmed by pathology obtained by surgery or biopsy, or by imaging follow-up.Results:WB-DWI/MRI showed 94% accuracy for detecting ovarian cancer recurrence, compared with 78% for CT (p = 0.008). WB-DWI/MRI showed better sensitivity [% (95% confidence interval)] than CT for detecting involvement of surgically critical tumour sites including mesenteric root infiltration [92 (62–100) vs 31 (10–61)], small bowel [93 (64–100) vs 21 (6–51)], colon carcinomatosis [91 (57–100) vs 27 (7–61)] and unresectable distant metastases [90 (54–9...