Relationships between dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI findings and pattern of invasion for tongue carcinoma

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DC-MRI) for assessing the pattern of invasion of tongue carcinomas. We studied 20 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue that showed peripheral enhancement patterns on DC-MRI. The diameter of each tumor was >2.0 cm and no apparent artifacts were seen. The signal enhancement to noise ratio (SE/N) of the regions of interest, which were located in the central and peripheral regions of the tumor, were measured using DC-MRI, while maximum SE/N, %-wash out, and the ascending rate of SE/N were also calculated. The histopathological pattern of invasion was assessed in each case and used to classify them into clear (13 cases) and diffuse (7 cases) groups, after which the 4 parameters were compared between the 2 groups. The ascending rate of SE/N in the peripheral region was significantly lower in the diffuse group (p=0.047). There were no other significant differences between the 2 groups for any parameter in either tumor region. These results suggest that DC-MRI is able to show the histopathological pattern of invasion into surrounding structures.