Assessment of Early Therapeutic Changes to Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy in Uterine Cervical Cancer Using Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate blood oxygenation level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in assessing early therapeutic changes in cervical cancers to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT).

METHODS

Fifteen consecutive patients with cervical cancer treated with CCRT were evaluated with blood oxygenation level-dependent MRI at 3 T. Magnetic resonance imaging examinations were performed before treatment (preTx), 1 week after treatment (postT1) and 4 weeks after treatment (postT2). At each time, the rate of spin dephasing (R2*) values were measured in tumor and in normal uterus.

RESULTS

Tumor R2* increased from preTx to postT2 (P < 0.01). In pairwise comparisons of tumor R2*, postT2 was significantly higher than preTx or postT1 (P < 0.01), whereas postT1 was not significantly different from preTx (P > 0.05). A significant difference in R2* was found between the tumors and normal uterus at preTx (P = 0.001), postT1 (P < 0.001), and postT2 (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Blood oxygenation level-dependent MRI may demonstrate early therapeutic changes of cervical cancers to CCRT.