Assessing Microcirculation in Resectable Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma with Dynamic Contrast-enhanced MRI for Identifying Primary tumour and Lymphatic Metastasis

This study aimed to determine whether dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) derived parameters can identify oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and lymphatic metastasis. Thirty-nine oesophageal SCC patients underwent DCE-MRI. Quantitative parameters including endothelial transfer constant (K(trans)), reflux rate (K(ep)), fractional extravascular extracellular space volume and fractional plasma volume, and semi-quantitative parameters including time to peak (TTP), max concentration, Max Slope and area under concentration-time curve of both oesophageal SCC and normal oesophagus were measured. Mann-Whitney U test revealed that K(trans) and K(ep) of oesophageal SCC were higher while TTP was shorter when compared to normal oesophagus (all P-values < 0.05); and areas under receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curves displayed that K(ep) was superior to TTP or K(trans) for identifying oesophageal SCC (0.903 vs. 0.832 or 0.713). Mann-Whitney U test also demonstrated that K(ep) was higher and TTP was shorter in patients with lymphatic metastasis when compared to non-metastatic cancer patients (both P-values < 0.05), and area under ROC curve also showed that TTP was superior to K(ep) for predicting lymphatic metastasis (0.696 vs. 0.659). In conclusion, the combination of quantitative and semi-quantitative parameters derived from DCE-MRI can aid in the identification of oesophageal SCC and lymphatic metastasis.