A study published in the journal- Academic Emergency Medicine revealed that a threshold Sonographic Maximum Ovarian Diameter (MOD) of 5cm on pelvic ultrasound might serve as the basis to rule out ovarian torsion in post‐menarchal females suffering from lower abdominal and pelvic pain.

To estimate the ovarian torsion, the color and power doppler ultrasound are frequently used, but these are not reliable. As the normal-sized ovaries are improbable to cause torsion, MOD could theoretically be used as a screening test in the Emergency Department. The detection of MOD values below which torsion is unlikely would be advantageous to providers interpreting radiology department or point-of-care pelvic ultrasound. Identification of MOD values below which torsion is doubtful would be of benefit to providers understanding radiology department or point-of-care pelvic ultrasound.

Gavin Budhram MD et al. executed this study to ascertain if the sonographic maximum ovarian diameter (MOD) can be used as a screening tool to rule out torsion in selected patients. This 14‐year period, case-control study assessed the ultrasound features of patients with torsion and age‐matched controls, all presenting to the emergency department with lower abdominal pain. They received a radiology department pelvic ultrasound for "rule‐out torsion." Standardized data collection forms were used. Comparison of distributions of MOD and sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios were evaluated for multiple cut‐offs.

All in all, 92 cases of surgically confirmed ovarian torsion and 92 age‐matched controls were considered. The sensitivity, specificity, +likelihood ratio, and ‐likelihood ratio of a 3cm and 5cm MOD were 100% (96‐100%), 30% (20‐41%), 1.4 (1.3‐1.7), 0, and 91% (83‐97%), 92% (83‐97%), 11.2 (5.5‐22.9), .09 (.04‐.19) in post‐menarchal patients. However, the 5cm MOD did not consider an additional 52/84 (62%) of post‐menarchal patients.