Diffusion kurtosis imaging of endometrial carcinoma: Correlation with histopathological findings

In this study, we aimed to determine the usefulness of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) as a noninvasive method for the evaluation of tumor invasion depth, histological grade, and lymph node metastasis in patients with endometrial carcinoma (EMC). Our institutional review board approved this retrospective study and waived informed consent. In total, 24 patients suspected of having EMC were examined by a 1.5-T magnetic resonance imaging. DKI data were obtained using a single-shot echo-planar imaging sequence with four b values (0, 500, 1000, and 2000 s/mm2). Kurtosis (K), diffusivity (D), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps were generated and compared with histopathological findings. K maps from all patients identified the junctional zone as a distinct high-K zone (1.443 ± 0.362). This zone was significantly different from the zone of endometrium and outer myometrium (0.678 ± 0.179 and 0.694 ± 0.113, respectively; P