Preoperative assessment of myometrial and cervical invasion in endometrial carcinoma by transvaginal ultrasound

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of transvaginal ultrasound (TVS) in preoperative assessment of the depth of myometrial infiltration and the presence of cervical invasion in endometrial carcinoma.

Methods: 298 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of endometrial cancer were evaluated by TVS within 3 days of surgical intervention. The depth of myometrial invasion was classified into two groups: no or <50% invasion and ≥50% invasion. Invasion of cervix was diagnosed when the neoplastic tissue distended the cervix and showed ill-defined borders with the cervical stroma.

Results: The sensitivity, specifity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and overall diagnostic accuracy of TVS in evaluation of the depth of myometrial infiltration were 68.4%, 82%, 65.1%, 84.1% and 77.5%, respectively. While the sensitivity and PPV were significantly higher among grade 3 tumors, the specifity, NPV and accuracy were significantly higher among grade 1 tumors. The sensitivity, specifity, PPV, NPV, and overall diagnostic accuracy of TVS in assessment of the presence or absence of neoplastic tissue in cervix were 76.5%, 99.3%, 86.7%, 98.2% and 98%, respectively. While the sensitivity and PPV were significantly higher among grade 1 tumors, the NPV and accuracy were significantly lower among grade 3 tumors.

Conclusion: TVS can be considered as a feasible, economical and simple imaging modality with a high diagnostic accuracy for the prediction of cervical involvement. However, it is not a reliable method in estimating the depth of myometrial infiltration.