Imaging of endometrial adenocarcinoma

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynaecological malignancy and the incidence rising. Prognosis depends on age of patient, histological grade, depth of myometrial invasion and cervical invasion and lymph node metastases. Myometrial invasion and accurate cervical involvement cannot be predicted clinically. Pre-treatment knowledge of these criteria is advantageous in order to plan treatment. The clinical challenge is to effectively select patients at risk of relapse for more radical treatment whilst avoiding over treating low risk cases. This is important as endometrial cancer predominately occurs in postmenopausal women with co-morbidities. Modern imaging provides important tools in the accurate pre-treatment assessment of endometrial cancer and may optimize treatment planning. However, there is little consensus to date on imaging in the routine preoperative assessment of endometrial carcinoma and practice varies amongst many gynaecologists. Transvaginal ultrasound is often the initial imaging examination for women with uterine bleeding. However, once the diagnosis of endometrial cancer has been made, contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides the best assessment of the disease. The results of contrast-enhanced MRI may identify patients who need more aggressive therapy and referral to a cancer centre. In this article we review the role of imaging in the diagnosis and staging/preoperative assessment of endometrial carcinoma.     

Bildgebende Diagnostik im Staging gynäkologischer Karzinome

The prognosis in patients with gynecologic cancers depends not only on the stage but also on a wide spectrum of other findings. Cross-sectional imaging modalities, including sonography, CT and MRI, have increasingly been used for optimal treatment planning in gynecologic cancers. Their staging criteria are based on the well-established FIGO staging system. CT and MRI compete with sonography, which plays a pivotal role in the evaluation of the female pelvis. This paper reviews the role of sonography, CT and MRI in the staging of gynecologic malignancies. It puts the emphasis on MRI, which has been established as imaging modality of choice in the preoperative evaluation of cervical and endometrial cancer, and which seems slightly superior to CT in the staging of ovarian cancer.     

Imagen por resonancia magnética en la estadificación y planificación del tratamiento del cáncer de cérvix

ObjectiveTo review the key points that are essential for the correct staging of cervical cancer by magnetic resonance imaging.ConclusionMagnetic resonance imaging is the method of choice for locoregional staging of cervical cancer. Thorough evaluation of prognostic factors such as tumor size, invasion of adjacent structures, and the presence of lymph node metastases is fundamental for planning appropriate treatment.     

MRI of malignant neoplasms of the uterine corpus and cervix

OBJECTIVE: In this article, we review the role of MRI in the imaging of malignant neoplasms of the uterine corpus and cervix, describing its role in staging, treatment planning, and follow-up. CONCLUSION: MRI is not officially incorporated in the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system, but is already widely accepted as the most reliable imaging technique for the diagnosis, staging, treatment planning, and follow-up of both endometrial and cervical cancer. MRI protocols need to be optimized to obtain the best results and avoid pitfalls.     

Oncologic imaging in gynecologic malignancies.

(18)F-FDG PET imaging is underutilized in patients with gynecologic malignancies, and its role in current clinical practice has yet to be established. In cervical cancer, it has high sensitivity in detection of nodal disease. Its use is probably most suitable in patients with negative or ambiguous findings on other types of radiographic imaging. Data support its usefulness in asymptomatic cervical cancer patients with high tumor markers and negative conventional-imaging findings, although more data are needed to ascertain whether it has a positive impact on survival. Similarly, its role in monitoring response to therapies needs to be consolidated. In ovarian cancer, (18)F-FDG PET holds promise in evaluation of recurrent or residual disease when other radiographic data are uncertain. In endometrial cancer, there are encouraging, although limited, data supporting the use of (18)F-FDG PET in patients with recurrent disease. To reduce extensive lymph node dissection in patients and to decrease subsequent morbidity, investigators have advocated applying the sentinel node technique to patients with cervical, endometrial, or vulvar cancers. The overall results are encouraging for the use of LS in planning surgical procedures, although more data and larger planned studies are needed to establish clinical utility in the surgical management of patients with these malignancies.     

Invited. Cervical cancer

The stage estimated by clinical FIGO staging is the main determinant in guiding the treatment decisions. However, clinical FIGO staging does have inherent inaccuracies, because it does not include significant prognostic factors. Presently, MRI is not officially incorporated in the staging workup system; however, it is widely accepted as the most reliable imaging modality in evaluating cervical cancer and in treatment planning. MRI offers direct tumor visualization, accurate assessment of the depth of stromal invasion and tumor volume, lymph node evaluation, and reliable staging accuracy. Published reports show the superiority of MRI over clinical staging, and several recent works on dynamic MRI suggest further improvement of MRI in evaluating cervical cancer.     

Zervixkarzinom

The treatment of uterine cervical carcinoma is largely dependent on the tumor stage. Despite significant inaccuracies in the clinical examination, uterine cervical cancer remains the only gynecological form of cancer still largely staged according to clinical findings. Although imaging is still not included in the staging the recently published revised FIGO (Fédération International de Gynécologie et d'Obstétrique) system encourages the use of modern cross-sectional imaging (magnetic resonance imaging MRI and computed tomography CT). Due to its high soft tissue contrast MRI allows excellent non-invasive assessment of the cervix with direct tumor delineation as well as assessment of the prognosis based on morphological factors. Studies in the literature report an accuracy of 93% for MRI in the preoperative assessment of tumor size and in the differentiation of operable from advanced cervical cancer. Therefore MRI is considered to be the optimal modality for diagnostic evaluation starting from FIGO stage IB1, for radiation therapy planning, and for exclusion of recurrence in follow-up. In this paper we give an overview of the role of magnetic resonance imaging in preoperative staging of uterine cervical cancer.     

MR imaging of the female pelvic region.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a valuable technique for noninvasive evaluation of the female pelvic region. This article presents the normal anatomy and abnormalities of the female pelvis. MR imaging may be more useful than clinical evaluation or other imaging modalities in diagnosing or staging developmental anomalies, leiomyomas, adenomyosis, endometrial or cervical carcinoma, vaginal neoplasms, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, teratomas, polycystic ovaries, or other ovarian masses. It could potentially replace laparoscopy as a more useful tool in the diagnosis of uterine anomalies. MR imaging is generally capable of helping determine whether a pelvic mass is uterine or adnexal in origin and may be used to characterize some adnexal masses. In some cases, MR imaging is used to differentiate recurrent disease from posttreatment fibrosis, which aids in treatment planning.     

Radiologic staging in patients with endometrial cancer: a meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: To apply a meta-analysis to compare the utility of computed tomography (CT), ultrasonography (US), and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in staging endometrial cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were obtained from a MEDLINE literature search and from manual reviews of article bibliographies. Articles were selected that included results in patients with proved endometrial cancer and imaging-histopathologic correlation and that presented data that allowed calculation of contingency tables. Data for the imaging evaluation of myometrial and cervical invasion were abstracted independently by two authors. Data on year of publication, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage distribution, and methodologic quality were also collected. A subgroup analysis was performed to compare contrast medium-enhanced MR imaging with nonenhanced MR imaging, US, and CT. RESULTS: Six studies met the inclusion criteria for CT; 16, for US; and 25, for MR imaging. Summary receiver operating characteristic analysis showed no significant differences in the overall performance of CT, US, and MR imaging. In the assessment of myometrial invasion, however, contrast-enhanced MR imaging performed significantly better than did nonenhanced MR imaging or US (P < .002) and demonstrated a trend toward better results, as compared with CT. The lack of data on the assessment of cervical invasion at CT or US prevented meta-analytic comparison with data obtained at MR imaging. Results were not influenced by year of publication, FIGO stage distribution, or methodologic quality. CONCLUSION: Although US, CT, or MR imaging can be used in the pretreatment evaluation of endometrial cancer, contrast-enhanced MR imaging offers "one-stop" examination with the highest efficacy.     

Radiomics in cervical and endometrial cancer

Radiomics is an emerging field of research that aims to find associations between quantitative information extracted from imaging examinations and clinical data to support the best clinical decision. In the last few years, some papers have been evaluating the role of radiomics in gynecological malignancies, mainly focusing on ovarian cancer. Nonetheless, cervical cancer is the most frequent gynecological malignancy in developing countries and endometrial cancer is the most common in western countries. The purpose of this narrative review is to give an overview of the latest published papers evaluating the role of radiomics in cervical and endometrial cancer, mostly evaluating association with tumor prognostic factors, with response to therapy and with prediction of recurrence and distant metastasis.     

The role of dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging in the female pelvis

Functional imaging by means of dynamic multiphase contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) is now part of the standard imaging protocols for evaluation of the female pelvis. DCE-MRI and DW-MRI are important MR imaging techniques which enable the radiologist to move from morphological to functional assessment of diseases of the female pelvis. This is mainly due to the limitations of morphologic imaging, particularly in lesion characterization, accurate lymph node staging, assessment of tumour response and inability to differentiate post-treatment changes from tumour recurrence.DCE-MRI improves the accuracy of T2WI in staging of endometrial cancer. It also helps differentiate tumour recurrence from radiation fibrosis in patients with cervical cancer. DCE-MRI improves characterization of cystic adnexal lesions and detection of small peritoneal implants in patients with ovarian cancer.DW-MRI is valuable in preoperative staging of patients with endometrial and cervical cancer, especially in detection of extra-uterine disease. It does increase reader's confidence for detection of recurrent disease in gynaecological malignancies and improves detection of small peritoneal implants in patients with ovarian cancer.In this review article we give an overview of both DCE-MRI and DW-MRI techniques, concentrating on their main clinical application in the female pelvis, and present a practical approach of the added value of these techniques according to the main pathological conditions, highlighting the pearls and pitfalls of each technique.     

What do we expect from imaging?

The objectives of imaging in gynecologic cancer include tumor detection, tumor diagnosis, staging, and follow-up. In addition, both monitoring response to treatment and differentiating tumor recurrence from post-treatment changes are important indications for imaging. In 2001 it was estimated that there would be 38,300 cases of endometrial cancer, 23,400 cases of ovarian cancer, and 12,900 cases of cervical cancer. This article reviews what information is required by the practicing gynecologist or gynecologic oncologist prior to surgery and briefly summarizes state-of-the-art imaging in answering clinically pertinent questions.     

Staging endometrial cancer: role of magnetic resonance imaging

This review article summarizes and comments the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the management of endometrial cancer. The MRI technique, appearance, and diagnostic criteria of endometrial carcinoma are discussed. The value of MRI in the preoperative staging of endometrial cancer is compared to alternative strategies. Contrast-enhanced MRI performs best in the pretreatment evaluation of myometrial or cervical invasion, compared to ultrasonography (US), computed tomography (CT), or nonenhanced MRI. The overall costs and accuracy are similar to those of the current methods of staging, including intraoperative gross dissection of the uterus. In addition, results of MRI might decrease the number of unnecessary lymph node dissections. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;13:850-855.     

Current imaging strategies for the evaluation of uterine cervical cancer

Uterine cervical cancer still remains an important socioeconomic issue because it largely affects women of reproductive age.Prognosis is highly depended on extent of the disease at diagnosis and,therefore,accurate staging is crucial for optimal management.Cervical cancer is clinically staged,according to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics guidelines,but,currently,there is increased use of cross sectional imaging modalities [computed tomography(CT),magnetic resonance imaging(MRI),positron emission tomography-CT(PET-CT)] for the study of important prognostic factors like tumor size,parametrial invasion,endocervical extension,pelvic side wall or adjacent/distal organs involvement and lymph node status.Imaging indications also include cervical cancer follow-up,evaluation of tumor response to treatment and selection of suitable candidates for less radical surgeries like radical trachelectomy for fertility preservation.The preferred imaging method for local cervical cancer evaluation is MRI;CT is equally effective for evaluation of extrauterine spread of the disease.PETCT shows high diagnostic performance for the detection of tumor relapse and metastatic lymph nodes.The aim of this review is to familiarize radiologists with the MRI appearance of cervical carcinoma and to discuss the indications of cross sectional imaging during the course of the disease in patients with cervical carcinoma.     

乳腺癌分子成像的应用价值

乳腺癌是女性最常见的恶性肿瘤之一,早期诊断及正确评估其侵袭性是影响乳腺癌病人预后的重要因素。多种分子成像技术(包括超声、磁共振成像、放射性核素显像及光学分子成像)对乳腺癌的诊断、临床亚型判断、治疗方式选择及预后评估均有重要价值。其中,超声靶向微泡治疗和光学分子成像指导乳腺癌手术治疗等技术的发展有望成为乳腺癌治疗的新方式。就多种分子成像技术在乳腺癌中的应用价值予以综述。     

Genitourinary applications of diffusion-weighted MR imaging in the pelvis

Diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has a large number of potential clinical applications in the female and male pelvis and can easily be added to any routine MR protocol. In the female pelvis, DW imaging allows improvement of staging in endometrial and cervical cancer, especially in locally advanced disease and in patients in whom contrast medium administration should be avoided. It can also be helpful in characterizing complex adnexal masses and in depicting recurrent tumor after treatment of various gynecologic malignancies. DW imaging shows promising results in monitoring treatment response in patients undergoing radiation therapy of cervical cancer. An increase in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of responders precedes changes in size and may therefore allow early assessment of treatment success. In the male pelvis, the detection of prostate cancer in the peripheral zone is relatively easier than in the central gland based on the underlying ADC values, whereas overlapping values reported in the central gland still need further research. DW imaging might also be applied in the noninvasive evaluation of bladder cancer to differentiate between superficial and muscle-invasive tumors. Initial promising results have been reported in differentiating benign from malignant pelvic lymph nodes based on the ADC values; however, larger-scale studies will be needed to allow the detection of lymph node metastases in an individual patient. Prerequisites for successfully performing DW imaging of the female and male pelvis are standardization of the DW imaging technique, including the choice of b values, administration of an antiperistaltic drug, and comparison of DW findings with those of morphologic MR imaging.     

Diffusion-weighted MR imaging of uterine endometrial cancer

PURPOSE: To determine the feasibility of diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI of uterine endometrial cancer and to investigate whether the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of endometrial cancer differ from those of normal endometrium and whether they differ according to the histologic grade of the tumor. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study population included 18 consecutive females with surgically proven endometrial cancer and 12 females with pathologically confirmed normal endometrium in cervical cancer patients. Visual evaluation and ADC measurement were performed in endometrial cancer and normal endometrium. RESULTS: All endometrial cancer and the normal endometrium appeared hyperintense on DW images. The mean ADC value (10(-3) mm(2)/second) of endometrial cancer was 0.88 +/- 0.16, which was significantly lower (P < 0.01) than that of normal endometrium (1.53 +/- 0.10). The mean ADC value for each histologic grade was 0.93 +/- 0.16 (G1), 0.92 +/- 0.13 (G2), and 0.73 +/- 0.09 (G3). CONCLUSION: The present study showed that DW imaging is feasible in demonstrating uterine endometrial cancer and ADC measurement has a potential ability to differentiate between normal and cancerous tissue of the endometrium. The ADC values of endometrial cancers of higher grade show tendency to decrease compared to those of lower grade, although estimation of histologic grade based on ADC values seems difficult because of considerable overlap.     

Value of dynamic MR imaging in assessing endometrial carcinoma involvement of the cervix

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate endometrial carcinoma involvement of the cervix using dynamic MR imaging compared with T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MR imaging. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In 42 patients with endometrial carcinoma, T2-weighted MR imaging using rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement, dynamic MR imaging using gradient-echo sequences, and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MR imaging using spin-echo sequences were performed before treatment. We evaluated patterns of enhancement in the cervix and tumor. In 39 of the 42 patients who underwent surgical treatment, we compared MR imaging findings with histologic results concerning cervical involvement. RESULTS: Enhancement of the cervical epithelium was greater than that of the tumor and cervical stroma on dynamic MR imaging in most patients. In assessing cervical involvement, the accuracy of T2-weighted, dynamic, and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MR imaging was 85%, 95%, and 90%, respectively; no statistically significant difference was observed. False-positive cases on T2-weighted MR imaging were correctly identified as having no cervical involvement on dynamic MR imaging using the finding of continuous enhancement of the cervical epithelium. We found this finding to be reliable in assessing tumor involvement of the cervix. CONCLUSION: We believe that, in combination with T2-weighted MR imaging sequences, dynamic MR imaging is useful in assessing endometrial carcinoma involvement of the cervix.     

Positron emission tomography in gynecologic cancer

Most positron emission tomography (PET) imaging studies in gynecologic cancer are performed using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). It contributes valuable information in primary staging of untreated advanced cervical cancer, in the post-treatment surveillance with unexplained tumor marker (such as squamous cell carcinoma antigen [SCC-Ag]) elevation or suspicious of recurrence, and restaging of potentially curable recurrent cervical cancer. Its value in early-stage resectable cervical cancer is questionable. In ovarian cancer, FDG-PET provides benefits for those with plateaued or increasing abnormal serum CA 125 (>35 U/mL), computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging (CT-MRI) defined localized recurrence feasible for local destructive procedures (such as surgery, radiotherapy, or radiofrequency ablation), and clinically suspected recurrent or persistent cancer for which CT-guide biopsy cannot be performed. The role of FDG-PET in endometrial cancer is relatively less defined because of the lack of data in the literature. In our prospective study, FDG-PET coupled with MRI-CT may facilitate optimal management of endometrial cancer in well-selected cases. The clinical impact was positive in 29 (48.3%) of the 60 scans, 22.2% for primary staging, 73.1% for post-therapy surveillance, and 57.1% after salvage therapy, respectively. Scant studies have been reported in the management of vulvar cancer using FDG-PET. More data are needed. Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia is quite unique in biological behavior and clinical management. Our preliminary results suggest that FDG-PET is potentially useful in selected gestational trophoblastic neoplasia by providing a precise metastatic mapping of tumor extent up front, monitoring response, and localizing viable tumors after chemotherapy. The evaluation of a diagnostic tool, such as PET, is usually via comparing the diagnostic efficacy (sensitivity, specificity, etc), by using a more sophisticated receiver operating curve method, or the proportion of treatment been modified. Evaluating PET by clinical benefit is specific to the individual tumor and an attractive new endpoint.     

Established, emerging and future applications of FDG-PET/CT in the uterine cancer

Integrated positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with 2-[1?F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) is a useful technique to acquire both glucose metabolic and anatomic imaging data using a single device in a single diagnostic session and has opened a new field in clinical oncologic imaging. FDG-PET/CT has been used successfully for the staging, optimization of treatment, re-staging, therapy monitoring, and prognostic prediction of uterine cervical cancer and endometrial cancer as well as various malignant tumours. The present review discusses the current role of FDG-PET/CT in the management of uterine cancer, discussing its usefulness and limitations in the imaging of these patients.