The Diagnostic Value of Combined Conventional MRI and Diffusion Weighted MRI in Diagnosis of Non-Palpable Undescended Testes

摘要

Background: MRI is noninvasive imaging tool, does not involve ionizing radiation and yields multiplanar images but it is sometimes less efficient in locating intra-abdominal functioning testicles and it fails to locate most of the atrophied testicles. Additional MRI assessments, as fat-suppressed T2WI and DWI are useful methods to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of diagnosis of non-palpable testes. Objective of the Study: is to assess the value of adding diffusion-weighted sequences (DWI) to routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in identifying and locating nonpalpable undescended testes. Results: a combination of DWI and conventional MRI including Fat-supp. T2WI sequence is the most accurate means of detecting and localizing non-palpable undescended testes. The findings of DWI complement the information on the location of undescended testes obtained with conventional MRI. In addition, DWI is helpful in detection of testicular viability or atrophy properly before the operation.