Differentiation of benign and malignant uterine corpus tumors by using proton MR spectroscopy at 3T: preliminary study.

摘要

OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively evaluate the diagnostic ability of magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy for distinguishing benign and malignant lesions in patients with uterine corpus tumours at MR imaging. METHODS: Pelvic MR spectroscopy was performed in patients with pathologically diagnosed benign and malignant uterine corpus tumours at 3T-MR imaging. Single-voxel MR spectroscopy data were collected from a single square volume of interest that encompassed the uterine corpus lesion. The total choline compounds (tCho) resonance peak areas were quantified relative to unsuppressed water using a software package. Patients who fulfilled the criteria for estimates of acceptable reliability were included. RESULTS: A total of 32 patients (age range, 24-76 years) with 32 lesions were evaluated in this study. The median lesion size at MR imaging was 50 mm (range, 19-218 mm). A tCho peak was present in all 32 lesions including 14 malignant lesions (9.21 +/- 2.21 mM), and 18 benign lesions (4.59 +/- 2.22 mM) (p < 0.0001). Using a cut-off value of 7.00 mM for malignant lesions had a sensitivity of 93%, specificity of 83%, PPV of 81% and NPV of 94%. CONCLUSION: Proton MR spectroscopy with quantitative evaluation of tCho concentration can provide helpful information in distinguishing benign and malignant uterine corpus tumours.