Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of pelvic peritoneal adhesions: What radiologists need to know?

Pelvic peritoneal adhesions constitute an important cause of concern which affects the life of millions of people worldwide due to complications like abdominal pain, bowel obstruction and infertility along with challenges in surgical exploration. Precise pre-operative diagnosis of the presence and extent of peritoneal adhesions is of great clinical and surgical importance. Diagnostic laparoscopy to detect peritoneal adhesions may itself lead to formation of adhesions. Routine CT and MRI studies are therefore useful non-invasive modalities to achieve this objective. This review article provides a brief background about the causation and patho-physiology of peritoneal adhesions. The article also addresses the range of clinical presentations in these patients, mainly from the gynecologic perspective. This article provides an illustrative review of CT and MRI findings with laparoscopic correlation. A new ‘imaging-based grading system’ for pre-operative quantification of the burden of peritoneal adhesions is also proposed. Despite practical challenges in accurate pre-operative diagnosis of peritoneal adhesions on imaging, detection of peritoneal adhesions is certainly feasible on routine CT and MRI scans and should be an integral part of image interpretation.