Non-Hodgkin lymphomas of the ovaries: MR findings

Purpose: The goal of this work was to describe MR findings (morphology, str ucture, signal intensity) of ovarian non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Method: We reviewed the MR images of five female patients aged 13-70 years (mean 46 years) with histologically proven NHL of the ovaries. We evaluated morphological and signal intensity findings of the lesions. MR features we re correlated with pathologic parameters. Results: All the patients were affected by B-cell NHL; one patient showed a primary involvement of the ovaries; in one patient, ovarian disease was di agnosed 30 months after surgical resection of a primary uterine lymphoma; t he remaining three had a systemic lymphoma. In three cases, the ovarian inv olvement was bilateral. The mean size of the lesions was 7.9 cm. All the le sions showed homogeneous low signal intensity on T1-weighted images and int ermediate to high intensity on T2-weighted images. The postgadolinium image s showed mild to moderate heterogeneous enhancement. The peripheral enhance ment was better demonstrated in fat-suppressed images. Conclusion: The diagnosis of primary ovarian lymphoma should be considered in the presence of large bilateral solid ovarian masses with homogeneous ap pearance (low signal on T1 and mildly high on T2) without infiltrative patt ern of growth or regressive changes (necrosis, hemorrhage, calcifications) and with little contrast enhancement.