• Darshan Patel, Jordan Fingard, Sean Winters, and Gavin Low.
• Department of Radiology & Diagnostic Imaging, University of Alberta Hospital, 2A2.41 WMC, 8440 - 112 Street, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2B7, Canada. darshan1@ualberta.ca.
• Abdom Radiol (NY). 2017 Jul 1; 42 (7): 1857-1863.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of MRI for detecting acute appendicitis in pregnancy in a multi-institution study involving general body MR readers with no specific expertise in MR imaging of the pregnant patient.MethodsRetrospective review of MRI examinations on PACS in 42 pregnant patients was evaluated for acute right lower quadrant pain. Three fellowship-trained general body radiologists analyzed the MRI examinations in consensus and attempted to localize the appendix, assess for features of appendicitis, and exclude alternative etiologies for the right lower quadrant pain.ResultsOf the 42 MRI examinations, the readers noted 6 cases of acute appendicitis, 16 cases of a normal appendix, and 20 cases involving non-visualization of the appendix but where there were no secondary features of acute appendicitis. Based on the surgical data and clinical follow-up, there were 3 true-positive cases, 3 false-positive cases, 34 true-negative cases, and 2 false-negative cases of acute appendicitis on MRI. This yielded an accuracy of 88.1%, sensitivity of 60%, specificity of 91.9%, positive predictive value of 50%, and negative predictive value of 94.4% for the detection of acute appendicitis in the pregnant patient on MRI. Alternative etiologies for the right lower quadrant pain on MRI included torsion of an ovarian dermoid in 1 case and pyelonephritis in 1 case.ConclusionMRI is an excellent modality for excluding acute appendicitis in pregnant patients presenting with right lower quadrant pain.

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