Can an MRI Help My Doctor Diagnose the Cause of My Pelvic Pain?

Pain is your body’s signal that something is amiss. You may have had pelvic pain long enough that it’s been labeled as chronic. Perhaps you’ve been to the doctor and had X-rays and/or an ultrasound or even a CT scan, but your doctor needs more information before reaching a diagnosis. 

Your physician may refer you to our expert radiologists at REDI Diagnostics Corp in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, for an MRI when other tests haven’t revealed a definitive cause of your discomfort. 

An MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, uses radio waves, powerful magnets, and sometimes a contrast dye to visualize what’s going on inside your body. It creates 3-D images of everything in your pelvic area. We then send a prompt report to your physician which can resolve many questions for both your doctor and you and lead to a treatment plan. 

What can an MRI of my pelvic area show? 

An MRI of your pelvic area covers a great deal of ground and can help detect a number of conditions. A pelvic MRI shows great detail of blood vessels, tissue, and internal organs between your hips, including your reproductive organs, bowel, and bladder. 

What medical conditions can an MRI of the pelvic region detect?

An MRI of your pelvic area can uncover a number of serious conditions. In men, we use MRIs to help detect the following health issues:

• Prostate cancer
• Testicular cancer
• Rectal cancer
• Tumors 
• Bladder cancer 
• Colon cancer

In addition to the conditions above, there are even more health conditions that can occur in the pelvic region in women: 

• Endometriosis
• Adenomyosis
• Cervical cancer
• Endometrial cancer
• Ovarian growths and cancer
• Structural problems of your reproductive organs, such as a weak pelvic floor
• Uterine fibroids
• Pelvic abscess

Three of the most common conditions an MRI reveals in women are endometriosis, adenomyosis, and uterine fibroids. Endometriosis has a negative impact on your fertility. It affects more than 10% of women in the United States, and doctors don’t yet fully understand why it develops. 

If your doctor suspects endometriosis, you may have already had an ultrasound, but your physician needs to see more detailed images of your pelvic area. An MRI can reveal endometriosis deep within your pelvic region near your bowel and pelvic ligaments that may not be visible via an ultrasound. 

Fibroids are noncancerous growths that can develop in and around your uterus. They can affect your fertility and cause pain. Heavy bleeding with adenomyosis can result in anemia.

An MRI is an excellent tool to examine soft tissue, especially in your pelvic and abdominal areas. It can show greater detail of the area than a CT scan, ultrasound, or X-ray. The test shows abnormal tissue before it becomes cancerous, which provides time for treatment before your health is compromised. 

Call REDI Diagnostics Corp or book an appointment online today if your doctor has referred you for an MRI.