ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2021 June;65(2):178-86

DOI: 10.23736/S1824-4785.19.03153-4

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Role of intravoxel incoherent motion parameters in gastroesophageal cancer: relationship with 18F-FDG-positron emission tomography, computed tomography perfusion and magnetic resonance perfusion imaging parameters

Khoschy SCHAWKAT ^{1, 2} ✉, Bert-Ram SAH ^{1, 2, 3}, Edwin E. TER VOERT ^{2, 3}, Gaspar DELSO ³, Moritz WURNIG ^{1, 2}, Anton S. BECKER ^{1, 2}, Sebastian LEIBL ⁴, Paul M. SCHNEIDER ⁵, Cäcilia S. REINER ^{1, 2}, Martin W. HUELLNER ^{2, 3}, Patrick VEIT-HAIBACH ^{1, 2, 3, 6, 7}

¹ Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; ² University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; ³ Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; ⁴ Department of Pathology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; ⁵ Center for Visceral, Thoracic and Specialized Tumor Surgery, Hirslanden Medical Center, Zurich, Switzerland; ⁶ University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; ⁷ Toronto Joint Department of Medical Imaging, University Hospital of Zurich, Toronto General Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

BACKGROUND: Identification of pretherapeutic predictive markers in gastro-esophageal cancer is essential for individual-oriented treatment. This study evaluated the relationship of multimodality parameters derived from intravoxel incoherent motion method (IVIM), 18F-FDG-positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT) perfusion and dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with gastro-esophageal cancer and investigated their histopathological correlation.
METHODS: Thirty-one consecutive patients (28 males; median age 63.9 years; range 37-84 years) with gastro-esophageal adenocarcinoma (N.=22) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (N.=9) were analyzed. IVIM parameters: pseudodiffusion (D*), perfusion fraction (fp), true diffusion (D) and the threshold b-value (bval); PET-parameters: SUVmax, metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG); CT perfusion parameters: blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV) and mean transit time (MTT); and MR perfusion parameters: time to enhance, positive enhancement integral, time-to-peak (TTP), maximum-slope-of-increase, and maximum-slope-of-decrease were determined, and correlated to each other and to histopathology.
RESULTS: IVIM and PET parameters showed significant negative correlations: MTV and bval (rs =-0.643, P=0.002), TLG and bval (rs=-0.699, P<0.01) and TLG and fp (rs=-0.577, P=0.006). Positive correlation was found for TLG and D (rs=0.705, P=0.000). Negative correlation was found for bval and staging (rs=0.590, P=0.005). Positive correlation was found for positive enhancement interval and BV (rs=0.547, P=0.007), BF and regression index (rs=0.753, P=0.005) and for time-to-peak and staging (rs=0.557, P=0.005).
CONCLUSIONS: IVIM parameters (bval, fp, D) provide quantitative information and correlate with PET parameters (MTV, TLG) and staging. IVIM might be a useful tool for additional characterization of gastro-esophageal cancer.

KEY WORDS: Magnetic resonance imaging; Perfusion; Stomach neoplasms; Positron emission tomography computed tomography