Shonit Punwani1, Pierpaolo Purpura1, Nikolaos Dikaios1, Heather Fitzke1, Alan Bainbridge2, David Price2, Scott Rice1, Simon Morley3, Timothy Beale3, Ruheena Mendes4, Martin Forster4, Dawn Carnell4, Thayalini Vaitilingam3, Nina Newton1, David Atkinson1, Steve Halligan1, Stuart Taylor1
1Centre for Medical Imaging, University College London, London, UK, United Kingdom; 2Medical Physics and Bioengineering, University College London Hospital, London, United Kingdom; 3Radiology, University College London Hospital, London, United Kingdom; 4Head and Neck Oncology, University College London Hospital, London, United Kingdom
The study assess multi-scale diffusion parameters (median volumetric nodal region of interest values, inter-voxel histogram distributions, and intra-voxel diffusion heterogeneity as assessed by the stretched exponential model) as classifiers of nodal status in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Low b value (0, 50, 100) derived nodal ADC (perfusion sensitive) was the key parameter facilitating discrimination of metastatic from benign nodes in patients with head and neck SCC. The stretched exponential derived α value together with histogram features of ADC provide an accurate decision tree model for classification of nodal disease.