The Value of Magnetic Resonance Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in Evaluating the Efficacy of Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy in Patients with Hypopharyngeal Carcinoma

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the application value of magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) combined with conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in evaluating the efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy for hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: A total of 20 patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma diagnosed by pathological biopsy (who only received chemoradiotherapy without surgery) were collected. Before treatment, all patients underwent conventional MRI and DWI scanning, MRI characteristics of patients were analyzed, and maximum cross-sectional area of the tumor and average apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value were measured. One month after treatment, MRI was performed again to measure residual tumor area and ADC value, and the tumor remission rate was calculated. The changes in tumor ADC values before and after treatment were analyzed and their correlation with tumor remission rate was analyzed. The differences in ADC values and changes between complete response patients (CR group) and incomplete response patients (non-CR group) before and after treatment were analyzed. Results: The tumor area of 20 patients with hypopharyngeal cancer was 3.48 (0.93 - 5.6) cm2 before treatment and 0.24 (0 - 0.9) cm2 after treatment. There were 15 patients (15/20, 75%) in the CR group and 5 patients (5/20, 25.0%) in the non-CR group. The remission rate was 90.3% (6.0% - 100%). The average ADC value of the tumor before treatment was negatively correlated with the tumor remission rate after treatment (r = ?0.786, ?0.813, P < 0.05), and the average ADC value after treatment was positively correlated with the remission rate (r = 0.669, P < 0.05). The average ADC value of the non-CR group before treatment was higher than that of the CR group, and the average ADC value and the change of the average ADC value before and after the treatment in the CR group were higher than those in the non-CR group, with statistical significance (all P < 0.05). Conclusion: The ADC value of tumor before treatment and the change of ADC value of tumor before and after treatment have a certain significance in evaluating the early remission rate of hypopharyngeal carcinoma after chemoradiotherapy.