Endometrial carcinoma: dynamic MRI with turbo-FLASH technique.
OBJECTIVE
Our goal was to investigate the usefulness of dynamic MRI with the turbo-FLASH technique in estimating myometrial invasion by endometrial carcinoma.


METHODS
Forty-six patients with endometrial carcinomas were evaluated with pathologic correlation. Dynamic MRI was performed with the rapid administration of Gd-DTPA using the turbo-FLASH technique.


RESULTS
The inner muscle layer showed more rapid contrast enhancement effects than the outer muscle layer even after menopause. Contrast-to-noise ratio between the inner muscle layer and endometrial carcinoma was maximum at approximately 50 s after administration of Gd-DTPA. In postmenopausal women, the accuracy in estimating myometrial invasion with T2-weighted images, contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images, and dynamic MRI was 66.7, 77.8, and 92.6%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Dynamic MRI with the turbo-FLASH technique is considered to be a useful imaging method for the estimation of myometrial invasion by endometrial carcinoma, especially in postmenopausal patients.
Joja
I
I
Department of Radiology, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
Asakawa
M
M
Asakawa
T
T
Nakagawa
T
T
Kanazawa
S
S
Kuroda
M
M
Togami
I
I
Hiraki
Y
Y
Akamatsu
N
N
Kudo
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009215:Myometrium / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D017698:Postmenopause; D017697:Premenopause; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors