Chronic pelvic pain caused by residual ovaries and ovarian remnants.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic effectiveness and treatment of women with chronic lower abdominal pain due to residual ovaries or ovarian remnants. DESIGN: A prospective observational study. SETTING: Tertiary referral pelvic pain clinic. SUBJECTS: Seventeen women complaining of chronic pelvic pain of up to 25 years' duration, of whom seven had residual ovaries and 10 ovarian remnant(s). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Persistent lower abdominal pain, pelvic tenderness and quality of life one year post-operatively. RESULTS: Six of the seven women with residual ovaries, and nine of the 10 women with presumed ovarian remnants experienced relief of the original pain, loss of pelvic tenderness and an improved quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Residual ovaries after hysterectomy and ovarian remnants are established causes of chronic pelvic pain. Diagnosis and surgical removal is frequently difficult. Management strategies are proposed for both conditions.

Correction of the non-uniform spatial sensitivity of electrical impedance tomography images.

One of the clinical applications of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is the measurement of volume changes of body fluids. However, the spatial sensitivity of images produced by the Sheffield Mark I system is non-uniform and if quantitative comparisons of resistivity images resulting from volume changes are to be mad, this non-uniformity must be corrected for. All experimental data were collected from a phantom consisting of semi-permeable membrane tubes fixed vertically at different distances from the centre of a cylindrical tank which was filled with a saline solution of resistivity 5 omega m. Individual images were obtained when each tube was filled with a saline solution of resistivity 1.5 omega m. Analysis of these images, using the resistivity integral described by Thomas et al, yielded the sensitivity of EIT at different positions within the tank. Combinations of tubes were then filled with saline (1.5 omega m) and an image produced for each combination. Cross sections of the images were taken and used to confirm that the principle of superposition is valid for EIT. A simple pixel scaling correction, derived from the sensitivity data, was then applied to the images and the results re-analysed to demonstrate a reduction in volume measurement error. The application of this correction to in vivo images is discussed.