Adenomyosis: MRI of the uterus treated with uterine artery embolization

Jha RC, Reena Jha, Reena C Jha, Takahama J, Junko Takahama, Imaoka I, Izumi Imaoka, Shahin J. Korangy, Korangy SJ, James B. Spies, Spies JB, Cooper C, Cirrelda Cooper, Ascher SM, Susan M. Ascher
AJR. American journal of roentgenology · 2003 · vol. 181(3) , pp. 851–856 · doi:10.2214/ajr.181.3.1810851 · PMID:12933493 · W2050163828
Other OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 46 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-07-09 ⓘ

Uterine artery embolization in adenomyosis patients showed reduced vascularity in thickened junctional zones, with most experiencing symptom improvement, suggesting it is a viable treatment option.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the MRI features seen after uterine artery embolization and to evaluate the clinical response in patients with adenomyosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty women with adenomyosis underwent uterine artery embolization and follow-up MRI for 1 year. Of the 30, 27 patients were diagnosed with uterine fibroids and adenomyosis on the basis of MRI before uterine artery embolization. In six of the 27 patients, the dominant disease was adenomyosis. Three of the 30 patients had adenomyosis alone. The distribution, thickness, and enhancement of adenomyosis were analyzed in each patient. Patients completed a symptom questionnaire. RESULTS: After uterine artery embolization, the junctional zone-myometrial ratio did not change significantly. There were regions of devascularization of adenomyosis on contrast-enhanced images in 12 patients, all with a junctional zone thickness before uterine artery embolization of more than 20 mm (mean thickness, 39.2 mm). Eleven of the 12 patients had focal or asymmetric distribution patterns of adenomyosis. All three patients with pure adenomyosis and all six patients with dominant adenomyosis reported an improvement in symptoms. CONCLUSION: In patients treated with uterine artery embolization, MRI shows changes in areas of adenomyosis with a decrease in junctional zone vascularity in patients with thickening of the junctional zone greater than 20 mm. Devascularization may be related to the distribution of adenomyosis. The presence of adenomyosis should not be used as a contraindication to uterine artery embolization because most patients show clinical improvement after undergoing this procedure.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisadenomyosis

MeSH descriptors

Embolization, Therapeutic Embolization, Therapeutic Endometriosis Endometriosis Leiomyoma Leiomyoma Magnetic Resonance Imaging Magnetic Resonance Imaging Uterine Diseases Uterine Diseases Uterine Neoplasms Uterine Neoplasms Uterus Uterus Adult Adult Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female

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 (31)

Cited by (46)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-17T06:09:56.316927+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:01:13.244548+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK