Preliminary Application of Magnetization Transfer Imaging in the Study of Normal Uterus and Uterine Lesions

The aim of this study is to evaluate the utility of magnetization transfer (MT) imaging in the study of normal uterus and common uterine lesions.

This prospective study enrolled 160 consecutive patients with suspected uterine lesions. MT ratio (MTR) map was obtained by pelvic MT imaging on a 3.0T MRI scanner. Patients confirmed by pathology were divided into microscopic lesion group and lesion group, according to whether the maximum diameter of the lesion was less than 5 mm. After evaluating and eliminating patients with poor image quality by a three-point Likert scale, MTR values of lesions and normal endometrium, myometrium, and cervix were independently measured on the MTR map by two radiologists. Inter-reader agreement was evaluated. MTR values were compared among different uterine lesions and normal uterine structures using the Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction. Receiver operating characteristic curve was performed. The correlations between age and MTR values were explored by Pearson correlation analyses.

A total of 96 patients with 121 uterine lesions in the lesion group and 41 patients in the microscopic lesion group were measured. The MTR values among normal endometrium, myometrium, and cervix were statistical significant differences (P < 0.05). There were significant differences between endometrial cancer and normal endometrium and between cervical cancer and normal cervix (both P ≤ 0.001). Area under the curve (AUC) for diagnosing endometrial and cervical cancer were 0.73 and 0.86. Myometrial lesions had significantly higher MTR values than endometrial lesions and cervical cancer (both P < 0.001), and the AUC for differentiating myometrial lesions from them were 0.89 and 0.94. MTR values of endometrial cancer were significantly higher than those of cervical cancer (P = 0.02). There was a critical correlation between age and MTR values in endometrial cancer (r = 0.81, P = 0.04).

MTR values showed significant differences among normal uterine structures. It was valuable for diagnosing and differentiating uterine cancer. MTR values could differentiate myometrial lesions from endometrial or cervical lesions.