Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 20, 2025
Tracking the Mammary Architectural Features and Detecting Breast Cancer with Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: December 15, 2014
Correlation between apparent diffusion coefficients and metabolic parameters in hypopharyngeal squamous cell
Lingyu Zhang1, Tianbin Song2, Zhaoting Meng1
1Department of Radiology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Purpose:
Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) derived from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) and metabolic parameters derived from 18F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET) are promising prognostic indicators for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However, the relationship between them remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between ADCs and metabolic parameters in hypopharyngeal SCC (HSCC) using integrated PET/MRI.
Materials And Methods:
Twenty-seven patients with biopsy-proven HSCC underwent integrated 18F-FDG neck PET/MRI. ADCs of HSCC, including the mean and minimum ADC values (ADCmean and ADCmin), were measured manually on ADC maps. Metabolic parameters of HSCC, including maximum and mean standardized uptake values (SUVmax and SUVmean), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG), were calculated automatically on PET images. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationships between ADCs and metabolic parameters in HSCC tumors as well as in tumor groups with different histological grading, clinical staging, and anatomical subsites. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results:
No significant correlation was observed between ADCs and 18F-FDG PET metabolic parameters in the entire cohort, except for a significant inverse correlation between ADCmean and MTV (r = -0.556, P = 0.003). Furthermore, a significant inverse correlation was observed between ADCmean and MTV of HSCC in the moderately to well differentiated group (rADCmean/MTV = -0.692, P = 0.006), stage III group (rADCmean/MTV = -0.758, P = 0.003), and pyriform sinus group (rADCmean/MTV = -0.665, P = 0.007), whereas no significant correlation was observed in the poorly differentiated group, stage IV group, or non-pyriform sinus group.
Conclusions:
Inverse correlation between ADCmean and MTV in the HSCC population was observed and the correlativity depended on histological grading, clinical staging, and anatomical subsites of HSCC.
