Ovarian torsion is agynecologic emergency that affects females of all ages. Early diagnosis is important to preserve ovarian function. The false positive rate for sonographic diagnosis of ovarian torsion is 50%; therefore, a new real-time approach is required to improve diagnostic accuracy. We investigated diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for diagnosing ovarian torsion. Spectroscopic measurements were performed in vivo prior to, during and after detorsion. After bilateral oophorectomy, hemoxygenase and myeloperoxidase enzyme activity in ovarian tissue was evaluated and the tissues were examined for pathology. Spectroscopic data were compared to histopathological and biochemical data to assess the diagnostic value of the spectroscopic method for differentiating healthy and damaged ovarian tissue. We found a good correlation between spectroscopy and histopathology. We also found a correlation between the spectroscopic data and heme oxygenase enzyme activity. We found no correlation between the histopathological tissue damage score and myeloperoxidase enzyme activity. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy may be of prognostic and diagnostic value for ovarian torsion in vivo.
Keywords: Heme oxygenase; ischemia; myeloperoxidase; ovary; spectroscopy; tissue damage; torsion.