Endometrial carcinoma is the most common gynecological malignancy and the incidence is rising.The prognosis mainly depends on three factors:histologic subtype and grade, tumor stage including depth of myometrial invasion, andlymph node status(1). Endometrial carcinomas are typically divided into two groups with low grade type I carcinomas arising in high estrogen environments and high grade type II carcinomas arising in a background of atrophy(2,3).Type II carcinomas are comprised of the aggressive histologic subtypes such as poorly differentiated endometrioid carcinomas (grade 3), papillary serous carcinomas and clearcell...

Study population From 2006 to 2012, 86 consecutive patients(mean age: 61 years; age range: 32-92 years)with histologically proven endometrial carcinoma were retrospectively evaluated with DCE-MRI. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI Criteria MR imaging were performed in 9 cases with 1.5T MR unit (Symphony; Siemens, Erlangen, Germany orAchieva; Philips Healthcare, Eindhoven, The Netherlands) and in 77 cases with 3T MR unit (Signa EXCITE HD orDiscoveryMR750;GE Medical Systems Milwaukee, WI, USA). A phased-array surface multicoil is used for signal reception. Conventional T2-weighted images and DCE-MRI were obtained in all...

Study population In 86 endometrial lesions, 68 were type I endometrial carcinomas (well differentiated:grade 1 (n=52);moderately differentiated:grade 2 (n=16)) and 18 were type II endometrial carcinomas (poorly differentiated:grade 3 (n=10); papillary serous adenocarcinoma (n=4) ; clear-cell adenocarcinoma (n=4)). Clinical and pathologic characteristics of the 86 patients in the study population are presented inTable 1. Semi-quantitative analysis Interclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were 0.93(SImax) / 0.95(SI0) /0.93(SI(piriformis)). All the ROImeasurementsindicated excellent correlation. There was no significant difference in the all enhancement parameters except for SImaxbetween 1.5-T and...

Our results demonstrate that type II endometrial carcinomas show strongly enhancement thantype I endometrial carcinomas. Moreover semi-quantitative evaluation of DCE-MRI is useful indifferentiating type II carcinomas from type Icarcinomasandis associated with substantially highinterobserver agreement. In a series of 53 patients,Hirano et al reported thatsix of nine patients with type IIendometrial carcinomas showed irregular, early enhancement compared with that of the myometrium on dynamic images (8). We also confirm that type II carcinomasexhibited greater earlyenhancement than the type I carcinomas. Semi-quantitative DCE-MRI with enhancement curves have...

1.Galimberti S, Signorelli M, Franzesi CT, Perego P, Valsecchi MG, Sironi S.Endometrial cancer: correlation of apparent diffusion coefficient with tumor grade, depth of myometrial invasion, and presence of lymph node metastases.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2011;197(1):256-62. 2.Bokhman JV. Two pathogenetic types of endometrial carcinoma. Gynecol Oncol 1983;15:10-7. 3.SohaibSA, Verma H, Attygalle AD, Ind TE.Imaging of Uterine Malignancies.Semin Ultrasound CT MR. 2010; 31(5):377-87. 4.Kurman RJ, Zaino RJ, Norris HJ (1994) Endometrial carcinomaIn: Kurman RJ (ed) Blaustein’s pathology of the female genital tract. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, New York,pp...

Takeru Fukunaga. Divison of Radiology, Department of Pathophysiological and Therapeutic Science, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan.