• Kensaku Mori, Tsukasa Saida, Yoko Shibuya, Nobuyuki Takahashi, Masanari Shiigai, Kayo Osada, Nami Tanaka, and Manabu Minami.
• Department of Radiology, Tsukuba Central Hospital, Kashiwada-cho 1589-3, Ibaraki, Ushiku, 300-1211, Japan. moriken@md.tsukuba.ac.jp
• Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2012 Jun 1; 35 (3): 515-22.

PurposeTo compare the status of uterine and ovarian arteries after uterine artery embolization (UAE) in patients with incomplete and complete fibroid infarction via unenhanced 3D time-of-flight magnetic resonance (MR) angiography.Materials And MethodsThirty-five consecutive women (mean age 43 years; range 26-52 years) with symptomatic uterine fibroids underwent UAE and MR imaging before and within 2 months after UAE. The patients were divided into incomplete and complete fibroid infarction groups on the basis of the postprocedural gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging findings. Two independent observers reviewed unenhanced MR angiography before and after UAE to determine bilateral uterine and ovarian arterial flow scores. The total arterial flow scores were calculated by summing the scores of the 4 arteries. All scores were compared with the Mann-Whitney test.ResultsFourteen and 21 patients were assigned to the incomplete and complete fibroid infarction groups, respectively. The total arterial flow score in the incomplete fibroid infarction group was significantly greater than that in the complete fibroid infarction group (P=0.019 and P=0.038 for observers 1 and 2, respectively). In 3 patients, additional therapy was recommended for insufficient fibroid infarction. In 1 of the 3 patients, bilateral ovarian arteries were invisible before UAE but seemed enlarged after UAE.ConclusionThe total arterial flow from bilateral uterine and ovarian arteries in patients with incomplete fibroid infarction is less well reduced than in those with complete fibroid infarction. Postprocedural MR angiography provides useful information to estimate the cause of insufficient fibroid infarction in individual cases.

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