[en] Purpose: To investigate the combination of pharmacokinetic and radiologic assessment of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as an early response indicator in women receiving chemoradiation for advanced cervical cancer. Methods and Materials: Twenty women with locally advanced cervical cancer were included in a prospective cohort study. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI was carried out before chemoradiation, after 2 weeks of therapy, and at the conclusion of therapy using a 1.5-T MRI scanner. Radiologic assessment of uptake parameters was obtained from resultant intensity curves. Pharmacokinetic analysis using a multicompartment model was also performed. General linear modeling was used to combine radiologic and pharmacokinetic parameters and correlated with eventual response as determined by change in MRI tumor size and conventional clinical response. A subgroup of 11 women underwent repeat pretherapy MRI to test pharmacokinetic reproducibility. Results: Pretherapy radiologic parameters and pharmacokinetic K^trans correlated with response (p < 0.01). General linear modeling demonstrated that a combination of radiologic and pharmacokinetic assessments before therapy was able to predict more than 88% of variance of response. Reproducibility of pharmacokinetic modeling was confirmed. Conclusions: A combination of radiologic assessment with pharmacokinetic modeling applied to dynamic MRI before the start of chemoradiation improves the predictive power of either by more than 20%. The potential improvements in therapy response prediction using this type of combined analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI may aid in the development of more individualized, effective therapy regimens for this patient group.

[en] To assess the predictive value of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) for survival in women treated for advanced cancer of the cervix with concurrent chemo-radiotherapy. Twenty women treated for advanced cancer of the cervix were recruited and followed up for a median of 26 (range <1 to 43) months. They each had DWI performed before treatment, 2 weeks after beginning therapy (midtreatment) and at the end of treatment. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were calculated from regions of interest (ROI). All participants were reviewed for follow-up data. ADC values were compared with mortality status (Mann-Whitney test). Time to progression and overall survival were assessed (Kaplan-Meier survival graphs). There were 14 survivors. The median midtreatment ADC was statistically significantly higher in those alive compared to the non-survivors, 1.55 and 1.36 (x 10^-3/mm²/s), respectively, P = 0.02. The median change in ADC 14 days after treatment commencement was significantly higher in the alive group compared to non-survivors, 0.28 and 0.14 (x 10^-3/mm²/s), respectively, P = 0.02. There was no evidence of a difference between survivors and non-survivors for pretreatment baseline or post-therapy ADC values. Functional DWI early in the treatment of advanced cancer of the cervix may provide useful information in predicting survival. (orig.)