Abstract #4366

Absence of oxygen enhanced changes in T2* within head and neck cancer metastatic cervical lymph nodes is associated with local disease recurrence within 2-years following chemoradiotherapy

Harbir Singh Sidhu¹, Chiara Tudisca¹, David Price², Sola Adeleke¹, Marianthi-Vasiliki Papoutsaki¹, Martin Forster³, Ruheena Mendes⁴, Stuart Andrew Taylor¹, and Shonit Punwani¹

¹Centre for Medical Imaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ²Medical Physics, University College London Hospital, London, United Kingdom, ³Research Department of Oncology, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁴Radiotherapy Department, University College London Hospital, London, United Kingdom

Hypoxia within head and neck squamous cell cancer metastatic lymph nodes is associated with poorer outcomes following chemoradiotherapy when measured directly using polarographic probes.

The utility of non-invasive pretreatment T2* measurement in prediction of chemoradiotherapeutic response was investigated. Our data suggest, however, that nodes demonstrating sustained post-therapy complete local response based on two-year follow-up are significantly more hypoxic compared with relapsing-nodes and paradoxically demonstrate a significant increase in hypoxia on breathing 100%-oxygen.

Following further work to ascertain the mechanisms of these observed changes, the differential response to oxygen and lower baseline oxygenation in responding-nodes could be exploited in risk stratification.

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