MR Imaging in Deep Pelvic Endometriosis: A Pictorial Essay

Antônio Coutinho, Antônio Carlos Coutinho, Leonardo Kayat Bittencourt, Cíntia Elias Pires, Cíntia E Pires, Flávia Junqueira, Flávia Pegado Junqueira, Cláudio Márcio Amaral de Oliveira Lima, Elisa Pompeu Dias Coutinho, Elisa Coutinho, Marisa A Domingues, Romeu C Domingues, Romeu Côrtes Domingues, Edson Marchiori
Radiographics : a review publication of the Radiological Society of North America, Inc · 2011 · vol. 31(2) , pp. 549–567 · doi:10.1148/rg.312105144 · PMID:21415196 · W2160819504
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Pelvic MR imaging is a noninvasive tool with high spatial resolution that accurately assesses the extent of deep pelvic endometriosis in various locations, aiding diagnosis and presurgical planning.

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Abstract

Deep pelvic endometriosis is an important gynecologic disorder that is responsible for severe pelvic pain and is defined as subperitoneal invasion that exceeds 5 mm in depth. Deep pelvic endometriosis can affect the retrocervical region, uterosacral ligaments, rectum, rectovaginal septum, vagina, urinary tract, and other extraperitoneal pelvic sites. It is commonly associated with dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, pelvic pain, urinary tract symptoms, and infertility. Because surgery remains the best therapeutic option for affected patients, the accurate preoperative assessment of the extension of endometriotic disease is extremely important. Pelvic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a noninvasive method with high spatial resolution that allows multiplanar evaluation of deep pelvic endometriosis and good tissue characterization, but without the use of ionizing radiation or iodinated contrast agents. MR imaging yields important findings that help grade the disease and identify subperitoneal lesion extension and other associated disease entities, thereby facilitating accurate diagnosis and adequate treatment. Radiologists should be familiar with the MR imaging findings of deep infiltrating endometriosis in various anatomic locations so that they can provide information that allows adequate presurgical counseling.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosisdie_deep_infiltratingdysmenorrheadyspareuniainfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Image Enhancement Magnetic Resonance Imaging Pelvis Endometriosis Female Humans Image Enhancement Magnetic Resonance Imaging Pelvis

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (44)

Cited by (50)

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