Abstract
A 34-year-old pregnant woman in her 28th gestational week was admitted with right lower quadrant pain to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yamaguchi University hospital with a suspected diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Ultrasonography and plain CT could not detect any inflammatory change in the appendix. But MR imaging could diagnose acute appendicitis for this patient to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the other hand demonstrated an enlarged appendix with periappendiceal inflammation as a high intensity area on the T2-weighted and fat-suppressed images. We performed an appendectomy, the patient's postoperative recovery was uneventful, and she was discharged on the 13th postoperative day. MRI is an excellent modality for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis and may be a good alternative to CT in pregnant women for whom sonographic findings are nondiagnostic.
