Time-dependent diffusion MRI for 2023 FIGO stage of uterine endometrial cancer

This study investigated the utility of time-dependent diffusion MRI in assessing pathological characteristics of endometrial cancer (EC) associated with the 2023 revised International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, including histological type, substantial lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI), and lymph node metastasis (LNM).

This retrospective single-center study included 93 patients with EC who underwent diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) MRI with oscillating gradient spin-echo (OGSE) and pulsed gradient spin-echo (PGSE) sequences. Mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values for OGSE (ADCOGSE) and PGSE (ADCPGSE) and ADCOGSE/ADCPGSE ratio were measured using tumor regions of interest. Mann-Whitney U test, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were conducted to evaluate the associations between ADC parameters and pathological factors.

ADCPGSE was significantly lower in the presence of LNM (P = 0.011). ADCOGSE/ADCPGSE was significantly higher in aggressive type, substantial LVSI, LNM, and FIGO stages II-IV (all P < 0.001). Area under the ROC curve of the ADCOGSE/ADCPGSE ratio consistently demonstrated statistical superiority over ADCOGSE and ADCPGSE independently for the prediction of aggressive type (0.85, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 0.76-0.91), substantial LVSI (0.91, 95 % CI: 0.83-0.96), LNM (0.93, 95 % CI: 0.85-0.97), and FIGO stages II-IV (0.78, 95 % CI: 0.68-0.86) (all P < 0.05). ADCOGSE/ADCPGSE was the only metric significantly correlated with the 2023 FIGO stage (P < 0.001, ρ = 0.50).

Time-dependent diffusion MRI effectively identifies EC characteristics associated with the 2023 FIGO stage.