Assessment of early response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy in cervical cancer: value of diffusion-weighted and dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging.

Objective: To investigate diffusion-weighted (DWI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging (DCE-MRI) as early response predictors in cervical cancer patients who received concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT).

Methods: Sixteen patients with cervical cancer underwent DWI and DCE-MRI before CCRT (preTx), at 1week (postT1) and 4weeks (postT2) after initiating treatment, and 1month after the end of treatment (postT3). At each point, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and DCE-MRI parameters were measured in tumors and gluteus muscles (GM). Tumor response was correlated with imaging parameters or changes in imaging parameters at each point.

Results: At each point, ADC, K(trans) and Ve in tumors showed significant changes (P<0.05), as compared with those of GM (P>0.05). PostT1 tumor ADCs showed a significant correlation with tumor size response at postT2 (P=0.041), and changes in tumor ADCs at postT1 had a significant correlation with tumor size (P=0.04) and volume response (P=0.003) at postT2. In tumors, preTx K(trans) and Ve showed significant correlations with tumor size at postT3 (P=0.011) and tumor size response at postT2 (P=0.019), respectively.

Conclusions: DWI and DCE-MRI, as early biomarkers, have the potential to evaluate therapeutic responses to CCRT in cervical cancers.