Evaluation of Pretreatment & Early Response DCE MRI in Head & Neck Cancer: Prediction of Short-Term Outcome

Jacobus F. A. Jansen¹, Yonggang Lu², Hilda E. Stambuk², Nancy Y. Lee², Jason A. Koutcher², Amita Shukla-Dave²

An advantage of the noninvasive MRI technique is that subjects can be imagined multiple times before, during and, after treatment. In this study we assess the value of DCE-MRI derived perfusion/permeability biomarkers in predicting the short-term response to therapy in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) with neck nodal metastases. Sixteen patients underwent a DCE-MRI protocol before, and 10-14 days into the chemoradiation treatment. Pretreatment and early response DCE-MRI parameters were compared, and their efficacy in predicting short-term response to treatment was tested using logistic regression analysis. Pretreatment ve was a significant predictor of response. However, early response DCE marginally improves prediction of short-term response in head and neck cancer.