MR Imaging of Early Stage Uterine Cervical Cancer: Diagnostic Impact of Diffusion-Weighted Imaging & 3D-Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI at 3T

Mayumi Takeuchi¹, Kenji Matsuzaki¹, Masafumi Harada¹

We evaluated MR imaging of 30 small early stage cervical cancers at 3T by using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and 3D-dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI. All 21 small visible cancers (1B1, 2A1) and 1 of 9 microscopic diseases (CIS-1A) showed early nodular or thickened mucosa-like enhancement exhibiting hypervascular cancerous foci, whereas 7 of 9 microscopic diseases showed early linear enhancement along the mucosa reflecting atypical vascular proliferation due to angiogenesis of cancer cells. All 21 small visible cancers and 6 of 9 microscopic diseases showed high intensity on DWI reflecting hypercellularity due to cancer cell proliferation.