Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in detecting cervical involvement by endometrial cancer.
Methods: A retrospective accuracy study of 135 consecutive women who underwent preoperative MRI and surgery for endometrial cancer at a single gynaecological cancer centre between 1st February 2003 and 30th November 2004.
Results: For the detection of any cervical involvement by MRI, the sensitivity was 72%, specificity 93.2%, positive predictive value (PPV) 89.8%, negative predictive value (NPV) 80.2%, positive likelihood ratio (+LR) 10.7 and negative likelihood ratio (-LR) 0.3. When cervical stromal invasion was considered alone, the sensitivity was 84.4%, specificity 87.4%, PPV 67.5%, NPV 94.7%, +LR 6.7 and -LR 0.18.
Conclusion: We believe that MRI is able to accurately predict cervical involvement in endometrial cancer and allows a decision to be made on the type of hysterectomy to be offered.