Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in diagnosis of pelvic endometriosis

Abstract

Background: Pelvic discomfort and infertility are two potential side effects of endometriosis, a chronic multifocal gynecologic condition that mostly affects women of childbearing age. This research aimed to characterise the various pelvic endometriosis manifestations as shown on functional MRI.Methods: Female patients aged 18 and up who were referred from the gynaecology and obstetrics department to the Radiodiagnosis and medical imagining department at Tanta University Hospitals for evaluation of a clinical suspicion of pelvic endometriosis or during an abdominal or trans-vaginal ultrasound examination were included in this cross-sectional prospective study.Results: By laparoscopy, 27 patients tested positive. Twenty-six positive instances were found using MRI with supplemental DWI, SWI, and DCE. There was one tubal case, two CS cases, four deep infiltrating cases, ten adenomyosis cases, and nine ovarian endometrioma cases among the positive cases. Improved sensitivity of 96.3%, 100% PPV, and 93.3% accuracy were all achieved by combining DWI, SWI, and DCE MRI for the diagnosis of endometriosis.Conclusions: Since DWI and SWI can identify the hemorrhagic nature of endometriotic lesions, they may be used in lieu of invasive laparoscopy to make a diagnosis of endometriosis, which greatly improves the diagnostic accuracy of MRI.