Predicting the status of lymphovascular space invasion using quantitative parameters from synthetic MRI in cervical squamous cell carcinoma without lymphatic metastasis

• Published in: Frontiers in oncology Vol. 14; p. 1304793
• Main Authors: Guo, Limei, Zhang, Runmei, Xu, Yi, Wu, Wenqi, Zheng, Qian, Li, Jianting, Wang, Jun, Niu, Jinliang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 06.02.2024
• Subjects: cervical squamous cell carcinoma; lymphovascular space; Oncology; proton density; relaxation time; synthetic magnetic resonance image; cervical squamous cell carcinoma; relaxation time; proton density; lymphovascular space; synthetic magnetic resonance image
• ISSN: 2234-943X; 2234-943X
• DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1304793

To investigate the value of quantitative longitudinal relaxation time (T1), transverse relaxation time (T2), and proton density (PD) maps derived from synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for evaluating the status of lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) without lymph node metastasis (LNM). Patients with suspected cervical cancer who visited our hospital from May 2020 to March 2023 were collected. All patients underwent preoperative MRI, including routine sequences and synthetic MRI. Patients with pathologically confirmed CSCC without lymphatic metastasis were included in this study. The subjects were divided into negative- and positive-LVSI groups based on the status of LVSI. Quantitative parameters of T1, T2, and PD values derived from synthetic MRI were compared between the two groups using independent samples -test. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the diagnostic efficacy of the parameters. 59 patients were enrolled in this study and were classified as positive (n = 32) and negative LVSI groups (n = 27). T1 and T2 values showed significant differences in differentiating negative-LVSI from positive-LVSI CSCC (1307.39 ± 122.02 vs. 1193.03 ± 107.86, <0.0001; 88.42 ± 7.24 vs. 80.99 ± 5.50, <0.0001, respectively). The area under the curve (AUC) for T1, T2 values and a combination of T1 and T2 values were 0.756, 0.799, 0.834 respectively, and there is no statistically significant difference in the diagnostic efficacy between individual and combined diagnosis of each parameter. Quantitative parameters derived from synthetic MRI can be used to evaluate the LVSI status in patients with CSCC without LNM.