In vivo correlation of glucose metabolism, cell density and microcirculatory parameters in patients with head and neck cancer: Initial results using simultaneous PET/MRI

Abstract

Objective To demonstrate the feasibility of simultaneous acquisition of 18F-FDG-PET, diffusionweighted imaging (DWI) and T1-weighted dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (T1w-DCE) in an integrated simultaneous PET/MRI in patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) and to investigate possible correlations between these parameters. Methods 17 patients that had given informed consent (15 male, 2 female) with biopsy-proven HNSCC underwent simultaneous 18F-FDG-PET/MRI including DWI and T1w-DCE. SUVmax, SUVmean, ADCmean, ADCmin and Ktrans, kep and ve were measured for each tumour and correlated using Spearman's ρ. Results Significant correlations were observed between SUVmean and Ktrans (ρ = 0.43; p ≤ 0.05); SUVmean and kep (ρ = 0.44; p ≤ 0.05); Ktrans and kep (ρ = 0.53; p ≤ 0.05); and between kep and ve (ρ = -0.74; p ≤ 0.01). There was a trend towards statistical significance when correlating SUVmax and ADCmin (ρ = -0.35; p = 0.08); SUVmax and Ktrans (ρ = 0.37; p = 0.07); SUVmax and kep (ρ = 0.39; p = 0.06); and ADCmean and ve (ρ = 0.4; p = 0.06). Conclusion Simultaneous 18F-FDG-PET/MRI including DWI and T1w-DCE in patients with HNSCC is feasible and allows depiction of complex interactions between glucose metabolism, microcirculatory parameters and cellular density.