Abstract:

Objective To investigate the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in preoperative staging of endometrial carcinoma of early stage. Methods MRI (T1WI, T2WI, DWI and gadolinium-enhanced T1WI) examinations were performed before surgery in 144 patients with endometrial carcinoma of stage Ⅰ to stage Ⅱ confirmed pathologically, the signal intensity and enhancement feature of tumors, the appearance of junctional zone, and the depth of myometrial invasion and cervical invasion were observed, and preoperative staging was performed. The results of preoperative staging were compared with postoperative pathological findings. Results Compared with normal endometria, the tumors were usually isointensity on T1WI and hyperintensity on T2WI, DWI and gadolinium-enhanced T1WI. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of DWI in assessing deep myometrial invasion were 85.19%(23/27), 96.04%(97/101) and 91.60％(120/131), respectively. The accuracy of MRI in assessing cervical invasion was 92.31%. Conclusion MRI is accurate and reliable in evaluation of myometrial invasion and cervical invasion of endometrial carcinoma, and may be performed as a routine preoperative examination.

Key words: endometrial carcinoma, magnetic resonance imaging, tumor staging, diagnosis