Reliability of diagnostic fluid hysteroscopy in the assessment of cervical invasion by endometrial carcinoma: a comparative study with transvaginal sonography and MRI.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed at comparing the reliability of diagnostic fluid hysteroscopy, transvaginal sonography (TVS), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess pre-operatively the presence of cervical involvement by endometrial carcinoma.


METHODS
Cervical involvement was assessed by diagnostic fluid mini-hysteroscopy, TVS and MRI before surgery in 100 patients with histological diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma. Results were compared with pathological examination on surgical specimen. The sensitivity, the specificity, the positive and negative predictive values, the accuracy, the positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR) of the three techniques for recognizing the cervical involvement by the carcinoma were calculated.


RESULTS
At histology cervical involvement was found in 15 cases. Compared to TVS and MRI, hysteroscopy showed the highest sensitivity (0.53, 0.67 and 0.93, respectively). The specificity of MRI was significantly higher than both hysteroscopy and TVS (0.95, 0.88 and 0.82, respectively). The diagnostic accuracy of hysteroscopy (0.89) and MRI (0.91) was similar and significantly higher than TVS (0.78). The LR for a positive result of MRI was 14.16, that was 2.08 and 4.68 times higher than that of hysteroscopy and TVS, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, this study demonstrates that in women with endometrial carcinoma the exclusion of cervical canal involvement at hysteroscopy is more reliable than at MRI and TVS while MRI is the most reliable technique for predicting cervical involvement. In the pre-surgical work-up of patients affected by endometrial carcinoma hysteroscopy and MRI are both useful for staging and planning the correct surgical strategy.
Cicinelli
Ettore
E
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical School of Bari, Bari, Italy. Cicinelli@gynecology1.uniba.it
Marinaccio
Marco
M
Barba
Bruno
B
Tinelli
Raffaele
R
Colafiglio
Giuseppe
G
Pedote
Pasquale
P
Rossi
Cristina
C
Pinto
Vincenzo
V
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015907:Hysteroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014463:Ultrasonography; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery