The Efficacy of Radiotherapy for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma under Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the application value of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NC) radiotherapy. In this study, 102 patients with NC were selected as the experimental group (EG), and 58 healthy people examined in hospital were included in a control group (CG). All subjects were required to be examined with routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and DTI before and after the treatment. The fractional anisotropy (FA) of the patients in EG before and after treatment and the CG were recorded. The apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) of patients in the two groups were measured and recorded before and after the treatment. The recovery rate and adverse events of the patients in EG were observed and recorded after the treatment. The results showed that the FA values of the right cerebellum and left parietal lobe (LPL) of patients after treatment in the EG were much higher than those before treatment and the CG (P < 0.05); the FA values of the right temporal lobe (RTL), right occipital lobe (ROL), and right parietal lobe (RPL) after treatment in the EG were obviously lower than those before the treatment and the CG (P < 0.05); the complete remission rate (CRR) of the EG after treatment was greatly higher than the partial remission rate (PRR) and disease stability rate (DSR) (P < 0.05), and the objective remission rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were higher than 90%, respectively. The ADC value of the EG before treatment was (0.752 ± 0.021) × 10-3 mm2/s, which was visibly lower than that after treatment ((1.365 ± 0.058) × 10-3 mm2/s) and that in the CG ((1.856 ± 0.079)) × 10-3 mm2/s), showing statistically obvious differences (P < 0.05). The incidence of anemia, oral reactions, hypertension, and gastrointestinal reaction in the EG after treatment was 61.46%, 45.35%, 47.28%, and 39.67%, respectively. In short, the FA value of DTI parameter could clearly indicate the changes in brain area characteristics of NC patients before and after treatment. The RTL, ROL, and RPL of NC patients were damaged after radiotherapy, and the FA value decreased observably, which may be related to brain edema and demyelination changes. The damage of white matter microstructure in each brain area further affected the cognitive function of the patient.