ABSTRACT
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether combining computed tomography-based virtual colonoscopy (CTC) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) improves preoperative assessment of colorectal endometriosis. DESIGN: Retrospective study using prospectively recorded data (Canadian Task Force classification II-2). SETTING: University tertiary referral center. PATIENTS: Seventy-one women treated for colorectal endometriosis managed between June 2015 and May 2016. INTERVENTIONS: Patients included in our study underwent colorectal surgery for deep endometriosis infiltrating the rectum or the sigmoid colon and had preoperative assessment using MRI and CTC. To establish the correlation between preoperative and intraoperative findings, the concordance kappa index was used. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Preoperative data provided by MRI, CTC, and a combination of both were compared with intraoperative findings. All 71 patients had a total of 105 endometriotic intestinal lesions intraoperatively confirmed. Some 71.2% of rectal nodules and 60.0% of sigmoid nodules infiltrated the muscularis propria of the intestinal wall, with most infiltrating between 25% and 50% of the rectal circumference; 73% of rectal nodules and 96% of sigmoid nodules led to varying degrees of stenosis. The concordance between intraoperative and preoperative findings concerning the presence of rectal nodules was high, at .88 when associating CTC with MRI, whereas each imaging technique taken individually provided lower concordance coefficients. In our study 80.3% of patients underwent the procedure that had been preoperatively planned. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that associating MRI with CTC leads to improved accuracy in preoperative assessment of colorectal endometriosis and in subsequent preoperative choice of surgical procedures on the digestive tract.
