3D multifrequency magnetic resonance elastography in distinguishing endometrial and cervical adenocarcinoma

To prospectively evaluate the value of tomoelastography in determining the underlying origins of uterine adenocarcinoma.

This prospective work was approved by our institutional review board, and all patients provided informed consent. 64 patients with histopathologically confirmed adenocarcinomas originated either from the cervix (CAC: cervical adenocarcinoma) or endometrium (EAC: endometrial adenocarcinoma) underwent MRI and tomoelastography examination on a 3.0 T MR scanner. To biomechanically characterize the adenocarcinoma, two MRE-derived parameters maps were provided in the tomoelastography, namely shear wave speed (c, m/s) and loss angle (φ, radian), which represented the stiffness and fluidity, respectively. The MRE-derived parameters were compared by using a two-tailed independent-sample t-test or Mann-Whitney U test. Five morphologic features were also analyzed by using the χ2 test. Logistic regression analysis was used to develop diagnosis models. Delong test was used to compare the receiver operating characteristic curves whith different diagnostic models and evaluate the diagnostic efficiency.

CAC were significantly stiffer and behaved more fluid like than EAC (c: 2.58 ± 0.62 m/s vs.2.17 ± 0.72 m/s, p = 0.029, φ, 0.97 ± 0.19 rad vs.0.73 ± 0.26 rad, p < 0.0001). The diagnostic performance for distinguishing CAC from EAC was similar for c (AUC = 0.71) and for φ (AUC = 0.75). For distinguishing CAC from EAC, the AUC of tumor location was the higher than c and φ (AUC = 0.80). A cmobined model consisting of tumor location, c, and φ achieved the best diagnostic performance, with an AUC of 0.88 (77.27% sensitivity and 85.71% specificity).

CAC and EAC displayed their unique biomechanical features. 3D multifrequency MRE provided added value to the conventional morphologic features in distinguishing the two types of diseases.