MRI

[Hanneesweedie]

Hi, does anyone know if an MRI of my small bowel would show my ovaries and womb? I had to drink Mannitol beforehand and was lying on my stomach for the scan, if that makes a difference at all...

[Lily-Anne]

It depends on the request from the consultant. They tend to only look at the areas on the form

LA

[Hanneesweedie in reply to Lily-Anne]

Thanks, it was definitely only for the small bowel rather than being for the abdomen or pelvic area.

[Hopefulgal1]

If concerned it may be ovarian please consult a gynae oncologist as I had MRI originally for stomach probs and they didn’t look at the ovaries. It was only a year later (!) when I was diagnosed and it was substantially progressed by then.

It may be nothing but better to be safe than sorry as my old ma would have said!! Fingers crossed for you and may you be happy and healthy x

[bamboo89]

No, very unlikely - the mannitol is given as a contrast agent and causes distention in the bowel so they can see the walls more clearly. This solution would have no effect on surrounding areas and wouldn't highlight them in the same way. Whether they would be able to notice something on the ovaries by examining all the MRI images is possible - but they're not looking at other areas, they're just concentrating on the small bowel in your case. As the others say, it might be wise to ask for your ovaries to be checked, especially if there's no evidence of problems in the small bowel to explain whatever problems you're having. This usually involves internal and external ultrasound, followed by a CT scan with contrast if they suspect that something's not right.

[Hanneesweedie]

Thank you everyone, I’ve had the CA125 blood test now so hopefully that’s a start and will give some sort of indication, although I know it’s not always raised with ovarian cancer. The gp said that they would likely have seen ovaries too but she kept asking what type of mri I had, didn’t really understand what she was asking, perhaps would have been relevant for me to mention the Mannitol. But she said about the blood test and then see if the consultant sends the letter about the mri. I had the blood test yesterday and the nurse told me the results would be back on Monday. Although, my understanding was that they tend to ring the next day if there’s anything overly concerning. No idea how quickly they’d act with raised CA125 though, so will see what the results say on Monday.