Correlation between 18F-FDG PET/CT and diffusion-weighted MRI parameters in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma at baseline and after chemo-radiotherapy. A retrospective single institutional study

Objectives The relationship between glucose metabolism and tumor cellularity before chemo-radiotherapy in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has never been compared with that of patients evaluated after treatment. This retrospective study analyzed the correlation between glucose metabolism parameters expressed by standardized uptake value (SUV) derived from 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET/CT and cellularity tumor parameters expressed by apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) derived from diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI in untreated and treated patients with head and neck SCC. Methods In 19 patients with no previous exposure to any treatment and 17 different chemo-radiotreated patients with head and neck SCC, we correlated the semi-quantitative uptake values (SUVmax, SUVpeak, and SUVmean) with the ADC functional parameters (ADCmin, ADCmean) including the standard deviation of ADC values (ADCsd). Results No significant correlation was found between glucose metabolism parameters and ADCmin or ADCmean in untreated and treated patient groups. However, in untreated patients, significant inverse correlations were found between ADCsd and SUVmax ( P = 0.039, r = −0.476), SUVpeak ( P = 0.003, r = −0.652) and SUVmean ( P = 0.039, r = −0.477). Analyses after chemo-radiotherapy in 17 patients showed no significant correlation between glucose metabolism parameters and DW MRI values, excluding a persistent significant (but lower intensity) inverse correlation between SUVpeak and ADCsd ( P = 0.033, r = −0.519). Conclusions The demonstrated relationships suggest complex interactions especially between metabolic activity and heterogeneity of tumoral tissue, which might play a complementary role in the assessment of head and neck SCC. Trial date of registration and registration number Our retrospective study was registered on April 9th, 2020 by the Ethics Committee of the Coordinating Center “Area Vasta Nord Ovest” (CEAVNO) with Registration Number CEAVNO09042020.