Diagnostic Accuracy and Clinical Effectiveness of MRI in Evaluating Perianal Fistula: A Comparison With Surgical Findings as the Gold Standard

Objective: To evaluate MRI's diagnostic validity and effectiveness in detecting perianal fistula, using surgical findings as the gold standard. Methodology: This cross-sectional validation study was conducted at the Radiology Department of KRL Hospital from January 5, 2022, to March 25, 2023. A non-probability consecutive sampling method was used to select participants, including all successive patients meeting the inclusion criteria. Sensitivity and specificity were evaluated to evaluate the diagnostic performance of MRI. Variables including patient characteristics, clinical traits, and imaging data were examined to uncover possible correlations with diagnostic accuracy. SPSS 21 software was used for statistical analysis. P-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Among the 49 study participants, MRI was able to detect perianal fistulas with a sensitivity of 92.3%. The level of specificity was high, at 90%. Diagnostic accuracy of MRI was 91.8% for the presence of abscesses and complex fistulous tracts. Conclusion: Based on the positive overall diagnostic performance in this small sample, this research implies that MRI has the potential as a diagnostic tool for detecting perianal fistula. But the small sample size could have affected how statistically significant the results were. It is necessary to do more research with larger sample numbers to confirm these findings and assess the effect of variables, such as abscesses and intricate fistulous tracts, on the precision of MRI.