MRI of the pelvis in comparison with CT scan.

This study gives results of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of male (23 cases) and female (29 cases) pelvis. Thirty nine patients with abnormal pelvis were compared with CT and ultrasounds. MRI and CT have proven equally sensitive to the presence of disease, with a better visualization of calcified tumours or benign lesions with CT, and a superior display of soft tissue spreads and bone metastases with MRI. The signal characteristics from various uterine, bladder and ovarian tumours show an overlap. The same phenomenon is observed between benign and malignant prostatic hypertrophy. The best sequences for pelvic study are, in our experience, IR or short TR spin-echo for T1-weighted images, and spin-echo with 1200 TR for T2 images. Calculated T1 and T2 maps may improve MRI results.