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Pattern 2 – Kissing Ovaries – Case

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0:01

Okay, so now let's look at

0:02

a case of kissing ovaries.

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So remember that kissing ovaries really

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happens when there are adhesions near

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the ovaries that draw the ovaries

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together to the midline of the pelvis.

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And the ovaries themselves might be abnormal

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or the ovaries may just be deviated towards the

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midline because of adhesions from endometriosis.

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So this is a reproductive

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age woman with endometriosis.

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So I'm just going to start off by looking

0:31

at the sagittal T2-weighted images.

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So this is a really good sequence

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just to get an overview of what's

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going on in general in the pelvis.

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And it's usually the first sequence that we

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get because it's what we use for planning.

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Okay.

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So here we've got the urinary bladder

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here anteriorly, and then we've

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got the cervix and the uterus, and

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the uterus is kind of retroverted.

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Then we've got this structure back here, which

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you can see on the other sequences as well.

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And then the rectum is back here.

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So obviously we know that there's

1:01

something strange going on.

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We've got sort of this tubular

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cystic-looking structure.

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So now we go over to the axial T2

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weighted images and I like to start

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by looking for normal ovaries.

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So here we've got the common iliac vessels

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bilaterally, and typically the ovaries are

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situated lateral to the common iliac vessels.

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They can be a little bit higher than this

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point in some patients, which is why I

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like to get a full T2 axial series of the

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whole pelvis, starting at the IMA, just

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in case the ovaries are displaced higher.

1:38

But typically you'd find them in this general

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area, but lateral to the common iliac vessels.

1:45

So we're scrolling down, scrolling down,

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we're scrolling down, and now we're

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starting to get into this very bizarre

1:51

looking disorganized structure, and

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we're not seeing any normal ovaries.

1:57

So here we've got a structure that looks

2:00

like it's kind of tubular looking, it

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might represent a dilated tube, and

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it's really hard to see a normal ovary.

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And it looks as though there's

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maybe a second structure here.

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So we can see round ligaments here that are kind

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of drawn into the middle of the pelvis where

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normally they'd be a little bit more lateral.

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And then we've got a second structure here.

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That's quite large, very similar

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appearance with lots of fluid in it.

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and no normal ovary.

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Okay.

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So no normal ovaries.

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And we see that the round ligaments are kind

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of drawn more centrally towards the pelvis.

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So that gives us a clue that maybe these

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structures that we're looking at are the

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ovaries and they're just grossly abnormal.

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And you almost get the sense that there might be

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little follicles here on the T2-weighted images.

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So the next step is let's evaluate the

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signal characteristics of what we

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think are grossly abnormal ovaries.

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So on T2, we can see potentially some small

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follicles here, maybe we'll have to check on

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T1 what they're actually like, and then maybe

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some other little follicles here still don't

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know, haven't looked at the T1, but we can

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see that there's a fluid-fluid level in what

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looks like an enlarged left ovary.

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So notice that you've got some high

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signal fluid, which is layering

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dependently and superficially.

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And then we've got this intermediate

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signal fluid, which occupies the

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rest of the cyst and is lower signal.

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So this is T2 shading.

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The other example I showed you was much

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more dramatic in terms of the decrease

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in T2 signal, but this is a nice example

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of a fluid-fluid level with T2 shading.

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And then we've got another area that's a

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little bit more dark in terms of T2 signal.

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So on the bottom here we've got pre and post

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contrast T1 weighted images with fat saturation.

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So now we need to look at whether the

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T2 signal corresponds to hemorrhage.

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And quite obviously you can see that.

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Without contrast, there is markedly increased

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T1 signal in both of those ovaries.

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So the areas that we thought maybe were

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follicles, let's see what they look like.

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So you can see that maybe anteriorly here

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and here, we've got some high signal.

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So those are probably hemorrhage.

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These guys here posteriorly maintain low signal.

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So those are probably normal follicles.

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But we've got lots of hemorrhagic products.

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So this is a nice example of kissing ovaries.

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And we've probably also got on the right side,

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we've got this kind of tubular structure here.

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Let's see what it looks like on the sagittal.

4:46

Yeah, again, it looks kind

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of superficial and tubular.

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I would be happy calling this a distended

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fallopian tube on the right, and you can

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see that there's some blood in it, so this

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is a hematosalpinx, and that's also a

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common feature in endometriosis, and I will

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talk about that a little bit more as well.

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But very nice example of kissing ovaries,

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very kind of florid example in this case

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as well, but hopefully you got some tips on

5:14

what to look for and how to use the different

5:16

sequences to arrive at your conclusion.

5:18

Thanks again.

Report

Faculty

Zahra Kassam, MD, FRCPC

Associate Professor of Medical Imaging, Division Head of Body Imaging

Western University

Tags

Vascular

Uterus

PET

Ovaries

Non-infectious Inflammatory

Neoplastic

Idiopathic

Gynecologic (GYN)

Fallopian Tubes

Body

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