Whole-lesion ADC histogram and texture analysis in predicting recurrence of cervical cancer treated with CCRT

PURPOSE: To explore the value of whole-lesion apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram and texture analysis in predicting tumor recurrence of advanced cervical cancer treated with concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT). METHODS: 36 women with pathologically confirmed advanced cervical squamous carcinomas were enrolled in this prospective study. 3.0 T pelvic MR examinations including diffusion weighted imaging (b = 0, 800 s/mm(2)) were performed before CCRT (pre-CCRT) and at the end of 2nd week of CCRT (mid-CCRT). ADC histogram and texture features were derived from the whole volume of cervical cancers. RESULTS: With a mean follow-up of 25 months (range, 11 ∼ 43), 10/36 (27.8%) patients ended with recurrence. Pre-CCRT 75th, 90th, correlation, autocorrelation and mid-CCRT ADC(mean), 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, autocorrelation can effectively differentiate the recurrence from nonrecurrence group with area under the curve ranging from 0.742 to 0.850 (P values range, 0.001 ∼ 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: Pre- and mid-treatment whole-lesion ADC histogram and texture analysis hold great potential in predicting tumor recurrence of advanced cervical cancer treated with CCRT.