Background: Endometriosis refers to the presence of functional endometrial glands outside of the uterine cavity. Although laparoscopy is the gold standard for diagnosing endometriosis, reliable identification of the disease before laparoscopy would be of value for the gynecologist in choosing the preferred therapeutic approach, medical or surgical. Ultrasound is the initial investigation performed, but MRI is increasingly being used, particularly when sonographic findings are inconclusive, when deep pelvic endometriosis is suspected or when surgery is indicated.
Aim of the work: This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the diagnosis of Endometriosis.
Patients and Methods: 40 premenopausal female patients with clinical and/or sonographic suspicion of endometriosis underwent pelvic MRI. All our imaging results were finally compared to the laparoscopic data with histopathological verification as the gold standard. The main outcome parameters, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of MRI in diagnosing endometriosis were calculated.
Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of MRI in diagnosing endometriosis were 95.65%, 57.14%, 88%, 80%, 86.7% respectively.
Conclusion: MRI is the best problem-solving tool in cases of indeterminate adnexal findings on sonography, when deep infiltrating endometriosis is suspected, or for presurgical mapping.