[MRI staging of endometrial carcinoma]

Thirty-one patients clinically suspected for endometrial carcinomas were evaluated by MRI. MR imaging findings were compared with surgico-pathologic staging of the tumor following hysterectomy. The MR appearance of endometrial carcinoma included uterine enlargement, endometrial thickness greater than 1 cm, and nodular-massive pattern which was observed mainly on T2-weighted imaging. The tumor on T2-weighted image was of high homogeneous signal intensity and was indistinguishable from surrounding endometrium. When the junctional zone of endometrium-myometrium, so-called low signal zone, depicts segmental interruption or disappearance, it indicated that the tumor had invaded into the myometrium. If cervical canal was widened, with heterogeneous distribution of high signal intensity, cervical involvement by the tumor was demonstrated. According to criteria of MR staging of endometrial carcinoma proposed by Hricak, the accuracy of our results of MR staging was 87%. Therefore, we suggest that preoperative MR examination is useful for staging of endometrial carcinoma.