Effectiveness of T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted multivane sequences in the preoperative evaluation of uterine endometrial cancer.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of MultiVane (MV) sequence, which is a motion correction technique using rotating blades, for patients with uterine endometrial cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study enrolled 42 patients with histopathologically confirmed uterine endometrial cancer, who underwent preoperative MRI including sagittal T2-weighted images (T2WI) and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images (CE-T1WI) acquired using both turbo spin-echo (TSE) and MV sequences with approximately matched acquisition times. Two experienced radiologists independently evaluated all sagittal images. First, the readers assessed the degree of motion artifacts and measured the signal intensity of the tumor and myometrium to calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and tumor-to-myometrium contrast ratio (CR). Second, the readers assessed the depth of myometrial invasion on sagittal T2WI and CE-T1WI acquired using TSE and MV sequences. Image quality and diagnostic performance for assessing myometrial invasion were compared between TSE and MV sequences.

RESULTS

Motion artifacts were significantly improved on MV sequence than on TSE sequence (p < 0.01). The SNR and CR were not significantly different between TSE and MV sequences (p > 0.05). Sensitivities, specificities, accuracies, and area under the curve for the diagnosis of myometrial invasion were slightly increased on MV sequence than on TSE sequence, but these differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

MV sequence contributes to the improvement of motion artifacts in the female pelvis without degrading SNR and CR of endometrial cancer and myometrium compared to TSE sequence. MV sequence did not significantly improve the diagnostic performance for assessing myometrial invasion in endometrial cancer, possibly due to the limited imaging plane and small sample size.