MANNITOL SOLUTION AS ORAL CONTRAST-MEDIUM IN PELVINE MRI

Purpose: Improvement of pelvic MRI using peroral administration of an aqueous mannitol solution. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated magne tic resonance examinations of 72 patients with suspected or proven pel vic abnormalities: In 36 patients, no bowel marking was carried out. I n further 36 patients, we performed a contrast enhancement of the bowe l by oral application of 1000 ml of an aqueous mannitol solution. Resu lts: 8/36 (22%) patients suffered from diarrhoea, nausea or meteorism as a result of mannitol application. In group 2, an excellent bowel ma rking of the small intestine could be obtained in 36/36 (100%) patient s. Contrast enhancement of the bowel significantly improved delineatio n between intestinal structures and pelvic organs or pathologic lesion s, respectively. In summary, bowel marking was desirable in 25/36 (69% ) of group 1 and helpful in 26/36 (72%) of group 2. Conclusion: Aqueou s mannitol solution is a safe bowel contrast agent and improves the di agnostic value of pelvic MRI, but in some cases delineation between ma rked bowel and cystic pelvic lesions may be uncertain.