Correlation Between Quantitative Parameters Of DCE-MRI After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy And Pathological Grades In Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective To investigate the correlation between quantitative parameters of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging?DCE-MRI?after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and pathological grades in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma?ESCC?.Methods Forty-four patients confirmed by esophagoscope and received neoadjuvant chemotherapy before operation were prospectively analyzed from September 2015 to March 2017 in the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University,and MRI examination was performed within one week before operation.All patients underwent routine chest MRI and DCE-MRI scanning,and quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI,including volume transfer constant(K^trans),exchange rate constant(K_ep)and extravascular extracellular volume fraction?Ve?were measured.Pathological grading was assessed as highly differentiated,moderately differentiated,poorly differentiated,and undifferentiated.Intraclass correlation coefficient?ICC?was calculated from the results from two radiologists.Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the differences of quantitative parameters between different pathological grade groups of DCE-MRI,and Mann-Whitney U test was utilized to compare the intraclass differences among pathological grades.Spearman rank correlation analysis was performed for evaluating the correlation between DCE-MRI parameters and pathological grade of ESCC.The Receiver Operating Characteristic?ROC?curves were used to evaluate the diagnosis accuracy of different DCE-MRI parameters in pathological grade of ESCC after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Results Forty-four patients were divided into four groups according to pathological findings:well differentiated?4 patients?,moderately differentiated?32 patients?,poorly differentiated group?8 patients?and undifferentiated?0 patient?.The differences of K^transmean,K^trans75%,K_epmax,K_epmean,K_ep75%between different pathological grading groups were statistically significant?all P<0.05?,and there were showed positive correlation significantly with pathological grading?r values were0.357,0.336,0.383,0.429,0.425,respectively,all P<0.05?.The ROC curve area of K^transmean?K^trans75%in the diagnosis of pathological grade for ESCC was 0.550?0.556,respectively.The diagnostic performance of K^trans75%was the best,and diagnostic threshold of 0.456/min,sensitivity of 75.0%,specificity of 57.5%,respectively.Conclusions The quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in ESCC have the certain value for predicting pathological grade.