Abstract
STUDY QUESTION
What is the relationship between endometriosis phenotypes superficial peritoneal endometriosis (SUP), ovarian endometrioma (OMA), deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) and the ...adenomyosis appearance by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)?
SUMMARY ANSWER
Focal adenomyosis located in the outer myometrium (FAOM) was observed more frequently in women with endometriosis, and was significantly associated with the DIE phenotype.
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
An association between endometriosis and adenomyosis has been reported previously, although data regarding the association between MRI appearance of adenomyosis and the endometriosis phenotype are currently still lacking.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
This was an observational, cross-sectional study using data prospectively collected from non-pregnant patients who were between 18 and 42 years of age, and who underwent surgery for symptomatic benign gynecological conditions between January 2011 and December 2014. For each patient, a standardized questionnaire was completed during a face-to-face interview conducted by the surgeon during the month preceding the surgery. Only women with preoperative standardized uterine MRIs were retained for this study.
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
Surgery was performed on 292 patients with signed consent and available preoperative MRIs. After a thorough surgical examination of the abdomino-pelvic cavity, 237 women with histologically proven endometriosis were allocated to the endometriosis group and 55 symptomatic women without evidence of endometriosis to the endometriosis free group. The existence of diffuse or FAOM was studied in both groups and according to surgical endometriosis phenotypes (SUP, OMA and DIE).
MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Adenomyosis was observed in 59.9% (n = 175) of the total sample population (n = 292). Based on MRI, the distribution of adenomyosis was as follows: isolated diffuse adenomyosis (53 patients; 18.2%), isolated FAOM (74 patients; 25.3%), associated diffuse and FAOM (48 patients; 16.4%). Diffuse adenomyosis (isolated and associated to FAOM) was observed in one-third of the patients regardless of whether they were endometriotic patients or endometriosis free women taken as controls (34.2% (81 cases) versus 36.4% (20 cases)); P = 0.764. Among endometriotic women, diffuse adenomyosis (isolated and associated to FAOM) failed to reach significant correlation with the endometriosis phenotypes (SUP, 20.0% (8 cases); OMA, 45.2% (14 cases) and DIE, 35.5% (59 cases); P = 0.068). In striking contrast, there was a significant increase in the frequency of FAOM in endometriosis-affected women than in controls (119 cases (50.2%) versus 5.4% (3 cases); P < 0.001). FAOM correlated with the endometriosis phenotypes, significantly with DIE (SUP, 7.5% (3 cases); OMA, 19.3% (6 cases) and DIE, 66.3% (110 cases); P < 0.001).
LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
There was a possible selection bias due to the specificity of the study design, as it only included surgical patients in a referral center that specializes in endometriosis surgery. Therefore, women referred to our center may have suffered from particularly severe forms of endometriosis. This could explain the high number of women with DIE (166/237–70%) in our study group. This referral bias for women with severe lesions may have amplified the difference in association of FAOM with the endometriosis-affected patients compared to women without endometriosis. Furthermore, according to inclusion criteria, women in the endometriosis free group were symptomatic women. This may introduce some bias as symptomatic women may be more prone to have associated adenomyosis that in turn could have been overrepresented in the endometriosis free group. Whether this selection could have introduced a bias in the relationship between endometriosis and adenomyosis remains unknown.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
This study opens the door to future epidemiological, clinical and mechanistic studies aimed at better characterizing diffuse and focal adenomyosis. Further studies are necessary to adequately determine if diffuse and focal adenomyosis are two separate entities that differ in terms of pathogenesis.
STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
No funding supported this study. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
To evaluate the prevalence on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of ovarian endometrioma (OMA) and deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) in adolescents presenting with severe dysmenorrhea.
Prospective ...study.
Clinic.
A total of 345 adolescents aged 12-20 years referred to the radiologic MRI department unit between September 2019 and June 2020.
Multiplanar pelvic MRI with cine MRI was performed. Data on the medical history with systematic questioning were collected for each patient before the scan.
Data on the endometriosis phenotypes (OMA and/or DIE), distribution of anatomical lesions, and adenomyosis were evaluated and recorded using a dedicated MRI spreadsheet. Myometrial contractions were systematically reported for each case. The data were correlated with the characteristics of the patients and severity of painful symptoms evaluated using a visual analog scale.
The prevalence rates of endometriosis and adenomyosis were 39.3% (121 patients) and 11.4% (35 patients), respectively. Among the adolescents with endometriosis, 25 (20.7%) presented with OMA, and 107 (88.4%) presented with DIE. The odds ratios (confidence intervals) for each pairwise comparison between the age distributions were 2.3 (1.4-3.8) for 15-18 vs. <15 years of age and 3.3 (1.2-8.5) for 18-20 vs. <15 years of age, highlighting a predominance of cases after 18 years of age. Uterine contractions were visualized in 34.4% of cases, with no particular association with endometriosis. No clinical risk factor was identified as being particularly associated with endometriosis. Notably, the visual analog scale score was the same for cases with and without endometriosis.
Severe endometriosis phenotypes (OMA and/or DIE) can be observed in adolescents with intense dysmenorrhea, with a linear increase in prevalence over time resulting in a clear predominance after 18 years of age. Endometriosis in adolescents is a challenging clinical problem with a long delay in diagnosis. Imaging can help reduce this delay in young patients with suggestive symptoms.
NCT05153512.
“CHARGE syndrome” (CS) is a multifaceted syndrome associated with a poor prognosis. The prenatal diagnosis remains challenging especially as the fetal anomalies that may evoke suspicion of CS are not ...comprehensively described.
Objective
This study aims to identify the anomalies in MRI with suspected CHARGE syndrome and to propose a possible standardization in the image‐based prenatal diagnosis of CS.
Methods
This was a retrospective study of 26 fetuses who underwent MRI and had a confirmed diagnosis of CS, as proven by histopathological and/or neonatal examinations and/or the presence of the CHD7 gene mutation.
Results
The three most frequent MRI anomalies confirmed at histopathological and/or neonatal examinations were arhinencephaly in 100% (26 of 26), dysplasia of the semicircular canals agenesis (SCA) in 100% (24 of 24), and posterior fossa anomalies in 100% (22 of 22). Our study also revealed short petrous bones with a particular triangular shape in 24 of 24 cases of SCA. Other relevant findings included external ear anomalies in 36% (9 of 25), cleft lip and palate (9 of 9), ventriculomegaly (VMG) (6 of 6), short corpus callosum (3 of 3), and ocular asymmetry in 36.6% (4 of 11).
Conclusion
Our study emphasizes the interest of fetal MRI in the diagnosis of CS with an adapted knowledge of semiology.
What's already known about this topic?
Fetal MRI has emerged as an extremely accurate imaging modality in fetal prenatal neurological diagnosis.
As CHARGE syndrome is a rare but severe condition, its diagnosis remains challenging prenatally.
What does this study add?
Given of the difficulty of making this diagnosis prenatally and the importance of prenatal counselling especially in this setting, our findings demonstrate that targeted fetal MRI has a major role in providing an accurate diagnosis following ultrasound, even more so when a tailored MRI protocol is implemented
To determine whether the presence of focal adenomyosis of the outer myometrium (FAOM) at preoperative magnetic resonance imaging is associated with the severity of deep infiltrating endometriosis.
...Observational cross-sectional study involving 255 symptomatic deep infiltrating endometriosis patients. Comparisons were performed according to the presence of FAOM.
University hospital.
Women with a preoperative magnetic resonance imaging and complete surgical exeresis of endometriotic lesions with histologically documented deep infiltrating endometriosis.
Surgical management for deep infiltrating endometriosis.
The presence of multiple deep infiltrating endometriosis lesions, the mean number and location of deep infiltrating endometriosis lesions, and the mean total revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine scores.
The prevalence of FAOM at preoperative magnetic resonance imaging in the 255 patients with deep infiltrating endometriosis was 56.5%. The mean number of deep infiltrating endometriosis lesions was significantly higher in the FAOM(+) group than in the FAOM(-) group: 3.5 ± 2.1 vs. 2.2 ± 1.5. The mean total revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine score was higher in case of FOAM coexisting with deep infiltrating endometriosis. After adjusting for confounding factors, the presence of FAOM was significantly associated with multiple deep lesions.
FAOM was significantly associated with greater deep infiltrating endometriosis severity. This needs to be integrated into the management strategy. Furthermore, a pathogenic link between deep infiltrating endometriosis and FAOM cannot be excluded.
BACKGROUND Transvaginal ultrasonography (TVUS) has important advantages compared with transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS): it is less invasive, is cost-effective, is a familiar and well-accepted ...approach, and anesthesia is not required. We compared the accuracy of TVUS and TRUS for diagnosing rectal wall involvement in patients presenting with histologically proved deeply infiltrating endometriosis (DIE). METHODS Prospective study of 134 patients with histologically proved DIE underwent preoperative investigations using both TVUS and TRUS. The radiologist (TVUS) and sonographer (TRUS) were unaware of the clinical findings but knew that DIE was suspected. RESULTS DIE was confirmed histologically for all the patients. A rectal wall involvement was histologically proved for 75 patients (56%). For the diagnosis of infiltration of the intestinal wall, TVUS and TRUS, respectively, had a sensitivity of 90.7% and 96.0%, a specificity of 96.5% and 100.0%, a positive predictive value of 97.1% and 100.0% and a negative predictive value of 88.9% and 95.2%. CONCLUSIONS TVUS and TRUS have similar degrees of accuracy for predicting intestinal involvement. TVUS must be the first-line imaging process to perform for patients presenting with clinically suspected DIE. The question for the coming years is to define if it is necessary for TRUS to be carried out systematically in cases of clinically suspected DIE.
We conducted a prospective study to assess the long-term results of complete surgery for low rectal endometriosis (LRE), paying particular attention to surgical complications, functional results, and ...disease recurrence after a follow-up of at least 5 years.
Deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) may infiltrate the midlow rectum and lead to severe pelvic pain. Complete resection of LRE is reluctantly considered by young women of childbearing age.
From 1995 to 2003, 100 women with severe pelvic pain and previous incomplete surgery (n=82) underwent complete open surgery for LRE after thorough preoperative imaging work-up. This included total or subtotal rectal excision with combined resection of all extrarectal endometriotic lesions. Univariate analysis of predictive factors for transient neurogenic bladder and surgical complications was performed. Mean follow-up was 78+/-15 months.
All patients underwent rectal resection with straight coloanal (n=16) or low colorectal anastomosis (n=84). A concomitant extrarectal procedure was required in all instances, including gynecologic procedures (n=100), additional intestinal (n=45), and urologic (n=23) resections. A fertility-preserving procedure was possible in 92% of the patients. Mean numbers of DIE and endometriotic lesions were 3.9+/-1.4 and 5.5+/-1.6 per patient, respectively. There were no deaths and the surgical morbidity rate was 16%. Sixteen patients developed a transient peripheral neurogenic bladder, which was more frequently observed after colonanal anastomosis (P<0.001) or concomitant hysterectomy (P<0.01) and in patients with more than 4 DIE lesions (P<0.05). At last follow-up, 94 patients had complete (n=83) or very satisfactory (n=11) relief of symptoms. Urine voiding and fecal continence was satisfactory in all cases. There was no recurrence of colorectal and/or urologic endometriosis and the overall DIE recurrence rate was 2%.
Complete surgery for LRE provides excellent long-term functional results in 94% of the patients, provided all extraintestinal endometriotic lesions are resected during the same surgical procedure. In that setting, the overall 5-year recurrence rate is very low.
STUDY QUESTION
Are protein oxidative stress markers thiols, advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), protein carbonyls and nitrates/nitrites in perioperative peritoneal fluid higher in women with ...histologically proven endometriosis when compared with endometriosis-free controls?
SUMMARY ANSWER
Protein oxidative stress markers are significantly increased in peritoneal fluids from women with deep infiltrating endometriosis with intestinal involvement when compared with endometriosis-free controls.
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Endometriosis is a common gynaecologic condition characterized by an important inflammatory process. Various source of evidence support the role of oxidative stress in the development of endometriosis.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
We conducted a prospective laboratory study in a tertiary-care university hospital between January 2011 and December 2012, and included 235 non-pregnant women, younger than 42 year old, undergoing surgery for a benign gynaecological condition.
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
After complete surgical exploration of the abdomino-pelvic cavity, 150 women with histologically proven endometriosis and 85 endometriosis-free controls women were enrolled. Women with endometriosis were staged according to a surgical classification in three different phenotypes of endometriosis: superficial peritoneal endometriosis (SUP), ovarian endometrioma (OMA) and deeply infiltrating endometriosis (DIE). Perioperative peritoneal fluids samples were obtained from all study participants. Thiols, AOPP, protein carbonyls and nitrates/nitrites were assayed in all peritoneal samples.
MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Concentrations of peritoneal AOPP were significantly higher in endometriosis patients than in the control group (median, 128.9 µmol/l; range, 0.3–1180.1 versus median, 77.8 µmol/l; range, 0.8–616.1; P < 0.001). In a similar manner concentrations of peritoneal nitrates/nitrites were higher in endometriosis patients than in the control group (median, 24.8 µmol/l; range, 1.6–681.6 versus median, 18.5 µmol/l; range, 1.6–184.5; P < 0.05). According to the surgical classification, peritoneal fluids protein AOPP and nitrates/nitrites were significantly increased only in DIE samples when compared with controls (P < 0.001 and P < 0.05; respectively), whereas the others forms of endometriosis (SUP and OMA) showed non-statistically significant increases. We found positive correlations between peritoneal fluids AOPP concentrations, nitrites/nitrates levels and the total number of intestinal DIE lesions (r = 0.464; P < 0.001 and r = 0.366; P = 0.007; respectively).
LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
Inclusion of only surgical patients may constitute a possible selection bias. In fact, our control group involved women who underwent surgery for benign gynaecological conditions. This specificity of our control group may lead to biases stemming from the fact that some of these conditions, such as fibroids, ovarian cysts or tubal infertility, might be associated with altered peritoneal proteins oxidative stress markers.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
We demonstrate the existence of a significantly increased protein oxidative stress status in peritoneal fluid from women with endometriosis especially in cases of DIE with intestinal involvement. This study opens the way to future more mechanistics studies to determine the exact role of protein oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Even if an association does not establish proof of cause and effect, these intrinsic biochemical characteristics of endometriosis may lead to the evaluation of therapeutic approaches targeting oxidative imbalance.
STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
No funding was used for this study. The authors have no conflict of interest.
The use of image fusion in prenatal medicine Millischer, Anne‐Elodie; Brasseur‐Daudruy, Marie; Mahallati, Houman ...
Prenatal diagnosis,
January 2020, 2020-01-00, 20200101, Letnik:
40, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Fusion imaging (FI), the simultaneous display of the same anatomical region using two imaging modalities, has been used in other areas of medicine for both diagnosis and guiding interventions. ...Examples include positron emission tomography‐computed tomography (PET‐CT) imaging in oncology and ultrasound‐magnetic resonance imaging (US‐MRI) fusion in biopsies of the prostate gland. The underlying principle is to take advantage of the complementary information in each modality to improve accuracy, be it diagnostic accuracy or targeting accuracy in biopsies. For example, PET‐CT overlays the metabolic activity of lesions on the superb spatial and anatomical detail of CT.
While the historical mainstay of fetal imaging has been ultrasound, advances in ultrafast MR imaging together with advances in fetal MRI over the past two decades, have resulted in the opportunity to explore fusion imaging in fetal medicine. We present an overview of the principles of US‐MRI fusion imaging in prenatal medicine, report our local experience, and review the literature in this emerging area. We share our perspective on how FI can improve diagnostic confidence, be used as an educational tool, and potentially enhance guidance in certain fetal procedures.
Objectives To evaluate the feasibility of dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE MRI) and measure values of in vivo placental perfusion in women. Methods This study was part of the ...Placentimage trial (NCT01092949). Gadolinium-chelate (Gd) enhanced dynamic MRI was performed two days before termination of pregnancies at 16 to 34 weeks gestational age (GA). Quantitative analysis was performed using one-compartment intravascular modeling. DCE perfusion parameters were analyzed across GA and were compared in IUGR and AGA fetuses. Results 134 patients were enrolled. After quality control check, 62 DCE MRI were analyzed including 48 and 14 pregnancies with normal and abnormal karyotypes, respectively. Mean placental blood flow was 129±61 mL/min/100ml in cases with normal karyotypes. Fetuses affected by IUGR (n = 13) showed significantly lower total placental blood flow values than AGA fetuses (n = 35) (F .sub.total = 122±88 mL/min versus 259±34 mL/min, p = 0.002). DCE perfusion parameters showed a linear correlation with GA. Conclusions Measuring placental perfusion in vivo is possible using DCE MRI. Although this study has many limitations it gives us the first DCE MRI values that provide a potential standard for future research into placental perfusion methods and suggests that placental functional parameters are altered in IUGR pregnancies.