The utility of diffusion-weighted MR imaging in differentiation of uterine adenomyosis and leiomyoma

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Diffusion-weighted MR imaging, particularly ADC D-value, demonstrates utility in differentiating uterine adenomyosis from leiomyoma by showing significantly different values between the two conditions.

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Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate the value of diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI), especially apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in the differentiation of uterine adenomyosis and leiomyoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 17 patients with uterine leiomyoma and 22 patients with uterine adenomyosis underwent diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in addition to routine MR imaging. The ADC values, as well as ADC D-value (defined as the ADC value of high signal intensive foci minus the ADC value of lesion tissues the difference in value), were measured and compared to investigate whether they could help in the differentiation of uterine adenomyosis and leiomyoma. Histopathologic examination was conducted as the golden standard. RESULTS: For high signal intensive foci within the lesions, uterine adenomyosis demonstrated significantly lower mean ADC value than uterine leiomyoma (1.582 vs. 2.122 × 10(-3)mm(2)/s, P=0.001). For lesion tissues, uterine adenomyosis demonstrated significantly higher mean ADC value than uterine leiomyoma (1.214 vs. 0.967 × 10(-3)mm(2)/s, P=0.001). However, there was overlap between uterine adenomyosis and leiomyoma in both measurements. Mean ADC D-value was significantly lower in uterine adenomyosis than in uterine leiomyoma (0.369 vs. 1.096 × 10(-3)mm(2)/s, P=0.000). ADC D-value had no overlap between uterine adenomyosis and leiomyoma. CONCLUSION: DWI can be applied for the further differentiation of uterine adenomyosis and leiomyoma, in addition to routine MR imaging. ADC D-value may be a more useful tool than ADC value in the differentiation.

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Condition tags

endometriosisadenomyosis

MeSH descriptors

Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging Endometriosis Leiomyoma Uterine Neoplasms Adult Adult Aged Aged Diagnosis, Differential Diagnosis, Differential Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female Humans Humans Leiomyoma

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 (21)

Cited by (8)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-09T06:09:53.026058+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:08:47.456808+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK