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Erschienen in:
01.11.2012 | Urogenital
Dynamic contrast-enhanced 3-T MR imaging in cervical cancer before and after concurrent chemoradiotherapy
Erschienen in: European Radiology | Ausgabe 11/2012
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Objective
To investigate the changes of dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging (DCE-MRI) parameters at 3 T in cervical cancer patients before and after concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), and to correlate the parameters with final tumour response to therapy.
Methods
Thirty-five patients with cervical cancer underwent DCE-MRI before CCRT, 4 weeks after starting therapy and at 1 month after the end of therapy. DCE-MRI parameters were calculated in the tumour and normal gluteus muscle. Final response to treatment as determined by changes in tumour size and volume was correlated with pre-treatment DCE-MRI parameters.
Results
DCE-MRI parameters (i.e. K
trans, v
e and k
ep) in the tumours showed significant changes in response to CCRT (P < 0.05) and in particular K
trans and v
e demonstrated early significant increase (P < 0.01), but those in normal muscle did not show a significant difference (P > 0.05). Before therapy, the mean values of K
trans, k
ep, v
e and v
p in the tumours were significantly greater than those in muscle (P < 0.05). DCE-MRI parameters of the tumours at pre-treatment were not statistically associated with final tumour size or volume change.
Conclusion
DCE-MRI parameters may help evaluate early changes of cervical cancer to CCRT, but larger, more definitive studies are needed.
Key Points
• DCE-MRI offers new insights into tumour behaviour.
• Changes in tumour size lag behind biomarkers which improve quickly in responders.
• DCE-MRI is a non-invasive imaging technique that can characterize tumour vasculature.
• DCE-MRI of cervical cancer may be useful in monitoring changes with therapy.