Application value of magnetic resonance imaging intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging and texture analysis in differential diagnosis and staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 肿瘤研究与临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the application value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM)-diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) metrics and texture analysis in the differential diagnosis and staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods:The clinical data of 125 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients (the research group) in Tangshan People's Hospital from October 2019 to October 2021 and 76 patients with nasopharyngeal hyperplasia during the same period (the control group) were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent MRI T2WI and IVIM-DWI sequence scanning, and then the plain T2WI images, DWI, and IVIM-DWI quantitative parameter pseudo-color maps including pure diffusion coefficient (D), pseudo-diffusion coefficient (D*), and perfusion fraction (f) were obtained. The texture analysis metrics like apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), D, D* and f were recorded. IVIM-DWI and texture analysis metrics were compared among patients in both groups and patients in different clinical stages; and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to evaluate the efficacy of IVIM sequence parameters and texture analysis metrics in the differential diagnosis and staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Results:Compared with the control group, a marked reduction in D value [(0.80±0.13)×10 -3 mm 2/s vs. (1.19±0.27)×10 -3 mm 2/s], f value [(11.3±2.2)% vs. (15.6±3.3)%], mean ADC value [(0.92±0.17)×10 -3 mm 2/s vs. (1.16±0.19)×10 -3 mm 2/s] and variance (2 189±862 vs. 3 563±925) (all P < 0.05); a notable increase in skewness (0.50±0.17 vs. 0.31±0.12), kurtosis (0.56±0.13 vs. -0.21±0.06) and entropy (10.5±2.3 vs. 7.1±2.1) (all P < 0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of IVIM sequence parameters and texture analysis metrics in the differential diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was 0.763 and 0.803, respectively; the AUC, sensitivity and specificity of the combination of IVIM sequence parameters and texture analysis metrics for the differential diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was 0.868, 89.6% and 86.8%, respectively. Compared with patients in stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ nasopharyngeal carcinoma, patients in stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ reported the lower D value [(0.75±0.13)×10 -3 mm 2/s vs. (0.89±0.16)×10 -3 mm 2/s], f value [(10.8±2.8)% vs. (12.1±3.0)%] (all P < 0.05), and the lower mean ADC value [(0.90±0.14)×10 -3 mm 2/s vs. (0.96±0.16)×10 -3 mm 2/s], and variance (2 063±831 vs. 2 431±846) (all P < 0.05), skewness (0.56±0.15 vs. 0.39±0.16), kurtosis (0.62±0.15 vs. 0.44±0.13) and entropy (11.0±2.1 vs. 9.1±2.4) (all P < 0.05). The AUC of IVIM sequence parameters and texture analysis metrics in differentiating nasopharyngeal carcinoma with different stages was 0.863 and 0.796, respectively; the AUC, sensitivity and specificity of the combination of IVIM sequence parameters and texture analysis metrics in differentiating nasopharyngeal carcinoma with different stages was 0.894, 85.4% and 90.7%, respectively. Conclusions:MRI texture analysis and IVIM quantitative analysis are of high value in the differential diagnosis and staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma; and the texture analysis achieves higher sensitivity and specificity in the differential diagnosis and staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma compared with IVIM quantitative analysis; the combined application of both has the highest overall efficacy.