title: Junctional zone thickness in young nulliparous women according to menstrual cycle and hormonal contraception use.
abstract: This prospective study aims to determine the optimal menstrual phase and uterine location to detect the thickest junctional zone by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Healthy nulliparous women were subdivided according to their use of hormonal contraception. Each women was investigated three times during their menstrual cycle. Eighteen nulliparous non-users and 29 nulliparous users of hormonal contraception (mean age 26.4 and 25.8 years, respectively) underwent a pelvic MRI (1.5T) examination during the follicular, ovulatory and luteal phase. The junctional zone thickness was measured at six locations in the uterine wall. A significantly thinner junctional zone was observed at the anterior and posterior wall of the midcorpus (P = 0.01 and P = 0.004 respectively) and fundus (P = 0.009 and P = 0.023 respectively), in the contraception users compared with the non-users. No differences in junctional zone thickness were noticed between the menstrual phases and the uterine wall locations. The ratio of junctional zone versus total myometrial thickness was also different between both groups and between the assessed uterine locations. To conclude, any phase in the menstrual cycle and location within the uterine wall was validated to determine the junctional zone thickness on MRI, although the fundal location is preferred.
authors.affiliation: Medical Imaging Department, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Schiepsebos 6, 3600 Genk, Belgium. Electronic address: liesbethmeylaerts@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Liesbeth Johannes
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Meylaerts
authors.affiliation: Medical Imaging Department, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Schiepsebos 6, 3600 Genk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Leen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wijnen
authors.affiliation: Medical Imaging Department, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Schiepsebos 6, 3600 Genk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Martijn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grieten
authors.affiliation: Medical Imaging Department, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Schiepsebos 6, 3600 Genk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Yvan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Palmers
authors.affiliation: Department of Ostetrics and Gynaecology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Schiepsebos 6, 3600 Genk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Willem
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ombelet
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Biomedicine, University of Hasselt, Campus Diepenbeek, Agoralaan, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vandersteen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003267:Contraception; D003278:Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006728:Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008183:Luteal Phase; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008597:Menstrual Cycle; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014599:Uterus / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003278:Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal; D006728:Hormones
keywords: MRI; fertility; junctional zone; thickness; uterus