Magnetic resonance imaging for assessment of deep endometrial invasion for patients with endometrial carcinoma

Aims: To evaluate the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the detection of deep myometrial invasion.
Methods: The patient group consisted of 53 women with endometrial cancer who underwent preoperative workup, including MRI, and surgical staging between August 1999 and August 2008 at Korea University Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea. The pathological data from surgical staging were compared with the preoperative MRI results.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 51 years and most patients had endometrioid cancer. On pathological evaluation of the myometrium, 20.8% had a deep myometrial invasion. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of MRI in detecting deep myometrial invasion were 50.0%, 89.7%, 79.2%, 63.6% and 83.3%, respectively. Evaluation of MRI findings and tumour grades by preoperative biopsy had a sensitivity and specificity of 88.9% and 87.5%, respectively, with a kappa of 0.764.
Conclusion: In patients with endometrial cancer, MRI is limited in its ability to detect deep myometrial invasion. The combination of MRI findings and tumour histology or grade can be helpful in determining if lymphadenectomy is necessary.