Diffusion weighted imaging in predicting and assessing therapeutic effect of cervical carcinoma

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the value of diffusion weighted imaging(DWI) to predicting and assessing therapeutic effect of radiotherapy on cervical carcinomas. METHODS: A total of 31 cases of cervical cancers were performed MRI scanning and axial DWI before and one month after radiotherapy respectively. And the patients were divided into residual group(n=6) and no residual group (n=25) according to the presence of residual after radiotherapy.The apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC) value and the size of tumor were measured before and after radiotherapy. RESULTS: The tumor size of 31 cases was smaller,and the average ADC value was higher after radiotherapy ((1.408±0.083)×10-3 mm2/s) than that before radiotherapy ((0.976±0.091)×10-3 mm2/s), which showed significant differences (P0.01). The ADC value was higher before radiotherapy and lower after radiotherapy, and the change rate of ADC value was small after radiotherapy in residual group than that in no-residual group, which showed significant difference between two groups (P0.01). CONCLUSION: The average ADC value increases and the size of tumor reduces after radiotherapy. DWI can be an ideal index to predict and assess the radiotherapeutic effect on cervial cancer.