Pelvic bones ADC could help to predict severe hematologic toxicity in patients undergoing concurrent...

Hematologic toxicity (HT) during concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for cervical cancer can lead to treatment breaks and compromise efficacy.

To evaluate the association between severe hematologic toxicity (HT) and clinical factors and pelvic apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) during CCRT of cervical cancer patients.

Data from 120 patients with cervical cancer who were treated with CCRT from January 2016 and December 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical data (age, menopausal status, clinical stage, body mass index, chemotherapy regimen and chemotherapy cycle) of the patients were collected, and the cohort were divided into two groups based on the HT grade: HT3+ group (HT grade ≥ 3; 66 patients) and HT3- group (HT grade<3; 54 patients). All patients performed MRI before CCRT, and pelvic (ilium, pubis, ischium) ADC value was measured on ADC map. The correlation between severe HT and clinical parameters and pelvic ADC value were analyzed by univariate analysis, and the diagnostic performance was further assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

In univariate analysis, the menopausal status (p = 0.012) and chemotherapy regimen (p = 0.011) were significantly correlated with severe HT in overall patients, and menopausal patients or patients receiving paclitaxel plus cisplatin (TP) regimen were more likely to develop severe HT. HT3+ group showed a significantly lower pelvic ADC value than HT3- group. The ADC value cut-offs derived from our study for predicting severe HT was 0.317 × 10^-3 mm²/s in overall patients. Neither clinical parameters nor pelvic ADCs were associated with severe HT in menopausal patients when analyzed separately (p > 0.05).

Severe HT was significantly associated with menopausal status and chemotherapy regimen in patients with cervical cancer treated with CCRT, and HT3+ group showed a lower pelvic ADC value.