Myometrial invasion by endometrial carcinoma: evaluation with 3.0T MR imaging.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of 3.0T MR imaging in the assessment of depth of myometrial invasion by endometrial carcinoma.

METHODS: Fifty women with histopathologically confirmed endometrial carcinoma underwent preoperative MR imaging at 3.0T. MR imaging findings were compared with microscopic pathologic findings in all cases. On evaluation of MR images and histopathological findings, myometrial invasion was classified as absent (tumor confined to the endometrium), superficial (less than 50% of myometrial thickness), or deep (50% or more of myometrial thickness) by two radiologists.

RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the MR imaging in distinguishing no myometrial invasion from myometrial invasion were 95/95, 60/70, and 88/90%, respectively, and no and superficial myometrial invasion from deep myometrial invasion were 88/94, 97/94, and 94/92%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: In evaluation of the depth of myometrial invasion by endometrial carcinoma, 3.0T MR imaging has a high diagnostic accuracy that is equivalent to that of previously reported 1.5T MR imaging.