Correlation of quantitative parameters from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI with pathological grades of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the correlation between dynamic contrast enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) quantitative parameters and pathological grading in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(SCC). Methods Prospective analysis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma confirmed by electronic gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed. Thirty nine patients who underwent radical resection of esophageal carcinoma with MRI examination one weeks before operation were included. All patients underwent routine chest MRI and DCE-MRI scans, and DCE-MRI quantitative parameters including volume transfer constant (Ktrans), exchange rate constant (Kep) and extravascular extracellular volume fraction(Ve)were measured.Pathological analysis of postoperative specimens,including pathological grading(highly differentiated,moderately differentiated,poorly differentiated,undifferentiated),gross tumor pathological type(ulcerative type,medullary type,fungating type,sclerotic type)and local infiltration degree (T staging) were performed. Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the differences of quantitative parameters between different pathological T staging,gross tumor pathological types and pathological grades of DCE-MRI,and a Dunn-Bonferroni test for post hoc comparisons.Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between DCE-MRI parameters and pathological grading of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.The ROC curves was used to evaluate the efficiency of different parameters in the diagnosis of poorly differentiated esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Result Among the thirty nine patients, they were divided into three group according to pathological findings: well differentiated (12 patients),moderately differentiated(15 patients)and poorly differentiated group(12 patients);ulcerative type (19 patients), fungating type(10 patients), medullary type(10 patients);T1, 2 stage(16 patients), T3 stage(14 patients), and T4 stage(9 patients). There was no significant difference in the value of Ktrans, Kepand Ve between different T staging groups and different tumor pathological types groups(all P>0.05).The differences of Ktrans, Kepand Vebetween different pathological grading groups were statistically significant (all P<0.05). There were positive correlation between Ktrans, Kep, Veand the pathological grading, rs value were 0.874, 0.672, 0.578 respectively, all P<0.01. The ROC curve area of Ktrans, Kepand Vein the diagnosis of poorly differentiated esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was 0.941,0.809 and 0.773 respectively.The diagnostic efficiency of Ktranswas the best.Conclusions The quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI are correlated with the pathological grading of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Ktrans, Kepand Vecan reflect the perfusion characteristics of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.