Role of MRI in staging and follow-up of endometrial and cervical cancer: pitfalls and mimickers

Insights into Imaging

Table 3 MRI protocol for endometrial and cervical carcinoma

Sequence	Axial T1	Sagittal T2	Sagittal DWI	Coronal T2	Axial T2^$	Axial DWI	Axial DCE	Sagittal DCE	Axial T2	Coronal T2
Sequence	TSE	TSE	EPI	TSE	TSE	EPI	FS 3D GRE T1^%	3D FS GRE T1	SS-FSE^&	SS-FSE^&
TE (ms)	8	100	90	100	100	81	2.3	2.3	70	70
TR (ms)	550	4000	4000	4000	4000	6000	4.5	3.6	1000	1000
Echo train length	4	17	EPI	17	17	EPI	–	–	55	55
Flip angle (degrees)	90	90	90	90	90	90	10	10	90	90
FOV (mm)	320	200	320	200	200	200	300	300	350	320
Slice Thickness (mm)	5	3	3	3	3	3	1.75	1.4	5	5
Gap (mm)	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	–	–	0.5	0.5
NEX	1	2	2	2	2	1/2/8/12	1	2	1	1
Matrix size	0.8 × 1	0.6 × 0.7	3 × 3	0.6 × 0.7	0.6 × 0.7	2.6 × 3	1.9 × 1.9	1.5 × 1.8	1.4 × 1.6	1.4 × 1.6
b values (s/mm²)			0, 800			0, 500, 800, 1000

DWI diffusion-weighted imaging, DCE dynamic contrast-enhanced sequence, TE echo time, TR recovery time, FOV field of view, NEX number of excitations, TSE turbo spin echo, EPI echo planar, 3D FS GRE T1 3D fat-saturated gradient-echo T1 sequence
We use the same protocol with different angulation in the axial oblique sequence (perpendicular to the endometrial cavity or cervix) or double oblique sequence (angled in both the sagittal and coronal planes)
^%40 dynamics (8 s)
^$If the uterus is tilted, we perform double axial plane imaging using sagittal and coronal T2WI sequences
^&Single-shot fast-spin echo