MR imaging underestimates stromal invasion in patients with adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in assessing the depth of stromal invasion in patients with adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix.


METHODS
Twenty-three women with adenocarcinoma of the cervix underwent T2-weighted and dynamic MR imaging before surgical evaluation. The images were evaluated for the depth of stromal invasion and compared with histological results.


RESULTS
Twelve of 23 patients (52%) were correctly diagnosed in agreement with the histological findings. However, the depth of stromal invasion was underestimated in ten patients (44%). In four of nine patients who exhibited scattered type lesions, no lesions were detected by MR imaging, although deep stromal invasion (more than 1/3) was recognized histologically. In contrast, all 11 patients showed cancer lesions in solid type adenocarcinomas with deep stromal invasion.


CONCLUSIONS
MR imaging detected less stromal invasive lesions in adenocarcinoma of the cervix than surgical specimens, and some scattered type adenocarcinomas could not be visualized.
Matsushita
M
M
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Niigata University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
Kurata
H
H
Kase
H
H
Arakawa
M
M
Aoki
Y
Y
Tanaka
K
K
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000473:pathology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery