mriprotocol - MRI Protocol for Imaging of Endometrial and Cervical Cancer

MRI Protocol for Imaging of Endometrial and Cervical Cancer

Cancer	Sequence	Plane	Reason
Endometrium	T1-weighted (upper abdomen and pelvis)	Axial	Evaluate bone marrow and lymph nodes
	T2-weighted	Axial	Evaluate lymph nodes and provide overview of pelvis
	T2-weighted FSE	Sagittal	Visualize tumor and its relationship with myometrium
	T2-weighted FSE	Axial oblique (short axis)	Evaluate depth of myometrial invasion in a second plane
	T1-weighted (unenhanced and contrast-enhanced) 3D gradient-echo with fat saturation	Sagittal at 0, 1, 3, and 5 min Axial (short axis) at 4 min	Optimize the assessment of superficial (0 and 1 min), deep (3 min) myometrial invasion, cervical extension (5 min)
			Optimize the assessment of depth of myometrial invasion (4 min) in a second imaging plane
Cervix	T1-weighted (upper abdomen and pelvis)	Axial	Evaluate bone marrow and lymph nodes
	T2-weighted with fat saturation	Axial	Evaluate lymph nodes and provide overview of pelvis (including hydronephrosis)
	T2-weighted FSE	Sagittal	Visualize tumor and its extension to lower uterine segment, vagina, bladder, and rectum
	T2-weighted FSE	Axial oblique (short axis)	Optimize the assessment of parametrial invasion in a second imaging plane

Note—T1-weighted can be conventional spin-echo, but in the interest of time, most centers use gradient-echo sequences, which are faster but at the expense of image quality. FSE = fast spin-echo.