Objectives: To retrospectively evaluate the feasibility of perfusion-weighted MRI (PWI) in uterine leiomyomas.
Materials and Methods: Eighteen uterine leiomyomas in 15 patients were evaluated. PWI was performed using a double-echo T2*-weighted spoiled gradient-recalled acquisition sequence, and the first-pass pharmacokinetic model was applied to calculate relative blood volume (rBV). Histopathologic analysis was performed to measure vascular area (VA).
Results: PWI was successful in 13 of 15 patients. On quantitative analysis, mean (+/- SD) rBV calculated from PWI was 0.17 +/- 0.13 (range, 0.06-0.55), whereas mean VA was 3.3% +/- 1.6% (range, 1.7-8.5%). A significant correlation was identified between rBV and VA (r = 0.87, P < 0.001).
Conclusions: The rBV determined at PWI correlates with histologic vascular area in uterine leiomyomas.