Tentative Exploration Of Application Of Energy Spectral CT In Cervical Cancer And Correlation Between Effective Atomic

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of energy spectral CT imaging in the diagnosis of cervical cancer.And to explore whether there is a correlation between the effective atomic number and the PET/CT SUV value.Materials and methods A database search identified 21 consecutive patients(mean age 52.76±10.08 years)who underwent both PET/CT scan and energy spectral CT scan from November 2016 to June 2017.These patients were later confirmed to have cervical squamous cell carcinoma.The effective atomic number(Eff-Z)and CT value from 70 ke V monochromatic spectral CT image were compared between cervical cancer lesion and normal adjacent tissue with independent sample t test or Rank Sum test.Spectral HU curves generated were also analyzed.The optimal thresholds to predict cervical cancer were obtained by receiver operating characteristics curves(ROC),sensitivity and specificity were achieved.Correlation between Eff-Z and standardized uptake value(SUV)including maximum SUV(SUVmax)and mean SUV(SUVmean)was assessed by Pearson correlation analysis.Results There were statistically significant difference in Eff-Z and CT value of70 ke V between the 2 groups(P<0.05).The Eff-Z and CT value were 7.33±0.09 and38.27±5.04 HU for cervical cancer lesion;7.01±0.10 and 29.79±7.14 HU for normal adjacent tissue,respectively.The optimal Eff-Z was 7.25 with 90.5% sensitivity and100% specificity.The optimal CT value was 34.2HU with 85.7% sensitivity and 76.2%specificity.The spectral HU curve of cervical cancer was relatively straight,while the curve of normal adjacent tissue showed an upward trend in 40 ke V-70 ke V,then tended to be smooth.There were no significant correlation between Eff-Z and PET/CT SUVmax {r=0.112,P=0.630} and SUVmean(r=-0.17,P=0.940).Conclusion Energy spectral CT has a certain value in the diagnosis of cervical cancer,and there is no significant correlation between Eff-Z and PET/CT SUV value.