MRI Study of Isolated Specimen of Uterine Adenomyosis

Objective To study MRI feature of isolated specimen of adenomyosis uteri and its histopathologic basis, to provide experimental evidence for clinical MRI diagnosis.Materials and Methods With turbo spin echo sequence (TSE), including T 1WI and T 2WI, and inversion recovery sequence (IR) T 1WI, MRI scanning was performed on freshly removed uterine specimens of adenomyosis (n=36), leiomyoma (n=30) and lesions of non corpus disease (n=16). The normal uterine wall structure, adenomyosis signs and leiomyoma signs were observed and compared. MRI findings were correlated with histopathologic results.Results On MRI, normal uterus was characterized by 2～4 histologic layers. Adenomyosis displayed signs reflecting the corresponding pathologic changes. The lesion presented as diffuse or localized thickening of the conjugation zone, or as low intensity signal in outer myometrial layer, or mixed with focal high signal on T 2WI. Focal high signal could be also seen on T 1WI when old hemorrhage was present. The uterus was enlarged in different degree with smooth outline, and distorted layered structure was observed in some cases.Conclusion The isolated specimen of uterine adenomysosis has certain characteristic MRI features. MRI is very useful for the diagnosis and differentiation of uterine adenomyosis.