MR imaging in deep pelvic endometriosis: a pictorial essay

Coutinho A Jr, Antônio Carlos Coutinho, Antônio Coutinho, Bittencourt LK, Leonardo Kayat Bittencourt, Cíntia E Pires, Pires CE, Cíntia Elias Pires, Flávia Pegado Junqueira, Junqueira F, Flávia Junqueira, Lima CM, Cláudio Márcio Amaral de Oliveira Lima, Elisa Coutinho, Coutinho E, Elisa Pompeu Dias Coutinho, Marisa A Domingues, Domingues MA, Domingues RC, 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 gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 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

endometriosisdie_deep_infiltratingdysmenorrheadyspareuniainfertility

MeSH descriptors

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

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

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. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (44)

Cited by (50)

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