evaluation of pelvic mass

ABSTRACT

In female reproductive tract the differential diagnosis of pelvic mass is quite variable because abnormality may arise from gynaecological or non gynaecological origin. The present study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of clinical examination and abdomino-pelvic ultrasonography and find out the frequency of malignancy in patients diagnosed with pelvic mass. It was a cross sectional prospective study of one year duration. Cohort study design on 107 patients with complaints suggestive of pelvic mass underwent clinical examination including history, abdomino-pelvic examination followed by abdominal ultrasound were evaluated. Only the patients who underwent laparoscopy or laparotomy were included in the study. Final diagnosis was correlated with histopathological diagnosis. Overall sensitivity of clinical evaluation was 50% while ultrasound was 80% sensitive in diagnosing the type of pelvic mass. Positive predictive value of clinical examination 71.4% was higher than ultrasound 66.6%. Frequency of gynaecological malignancy was 84%, while 1.9% malignancies were of non gynaecological origin. Our study has supported the view that clinical evaluation and ultrasound are initial modalities and to increase the sensitivity for definitive diagnosis other imaging facilities and tumor marker are needed