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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Obstetrics and Gynecology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1468860
This article is part of the Research Topic Endometriosis: Updates on the Etiology, Pathophysiology, Measurements and Therapeutics View all 5 articles

Incidental findings on MRI for the evaluation of endometriosis: Prevalence and clinical significance

Provisionally accepted
Sebastian Harth Sebastian Harth 1*Fritz Roller Fritz Roller 1Alexander Brose Alexander Brose 1Hasan E. Kaya Hasan E. Kaya 2Felix Zeppernick Felix Zeppernick 1Ivo Meinhold-Heerlein Ivo Meinhold-Heerlein 1Gabriele A. Krombach Gabriele A. Krombach 1
  • 1 University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany
  • 2 Bursa Uludağ University, Bursa, Bursa, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the prevalence and clinical significance of incidental findings on MRI for endometriosis. Differences between patients with and without evidence of deep infiltrating endometriosis on MRI were to be examined.This was a retrospective, descriptive cross-sectional single-center study. All patients who received a pelvic MRI for endometriosis between April 2021 and February 2023 were included. The presence and frequency of incidental findings were noted after review of all MR images and radiology reports. The potential clinical significance of the findings was analyzed. Differences in the frequency of incidental findings between patients with and without evidence of deep infiltrating endometriosis on MRI were evaluated, utilizing the Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney U test.Results: 303 consecutive patients (mean age, 33.4 years ± 8.3) were evaluated. Incidental findings were noted in 299/303 (98.7%) patients. Most frequently, ossification of the hip acetabular rim and degenerative changes of the lumbar spine were noted. In 25/303 (8.3%) patients, incidental findings had high clinical significance. For specific incidental findings, significantly higher prevalences were found in patients with than in patients without evidence of deep infiltrating endometriosis on MRI (hip acetabular rim ossification, p = 0.041; annulus fibrosus fissures, p = 0.006; gallstones, p = 0.042).Conclusions: Incidental findings are very common on pelvic MRI for endometriosis. The detection of incidental findings can lead to the diagnosis of relevant diseases and thus enable early treatment. On the other hand, many incidental findings have no, only minor, or uncertain consequences.

    Keywords: Pelvis, Endometriosis, Incidental Findings, Diagnostic Imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging

    Received: 22 Jul 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Harth, Roller, Brose, Kaya, Zeppernick, Meinhold-Heerlein and Krombach. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sebastian Harth, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.