Added value of diffusion-weighted MRI in detection of cervical cancer recurrence: comparison with morphologic and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI sequences

Cervical cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer in women worldwide (1). Early stage disease is treated with surgery or chemoradiotherapy and has a good prognosis. However, around 30% of all patients treated for cervical carcinoma develop progressive or recurrent tumors (2). Recurrent cervical cancer is defined as local tumor regrowth or the development of distant organ/lymph node metastases at least six months after regression of the initial lesion. Approximately two-thirds of recurrences appear within the first two years following initial treatment, with 90% recurring by five years post-treatment (3). Risk factors for recurrence include histopathologic features, depth of tumor invasion, and nodal status (4). Pelvic recurrence can be located centrally (cervix, uterus, vagina, parametria, ovaries, bladder, or rectum) or in the pelvic sidewalls. Extrapelvic recurrence most commonly involves the para-aortic lymph nodes, lungs, liver, or bone (4–6). Treatment of recurrent cancer depends on the primary treatment approach, location, and extension. Patients with locally recurrent disease can be offered salvage treatments with curative potential (chemoradiotherapy, if not given previously, or pelvic exenteration in patients who already received chemoradiotherapy). Distant metastases, however, are nearly always incurable (3). In patients who successfully completed primary treatment, surveillance has been advocated to detect the residual or recurrent disease at curable stages (7). The use of imaging studies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is indicated on the basis of clinical suspicion (8). T2-weighted (T2W) imaging is the reference sequence for cervical cancer staging (9). Recurrent tumors are known to show high signal intensity on T2W MRI, contrasting with the low signal intensity of the cervical stroma. However, some benign conditions such as necrosis, inflammation, and edema may also increase signal intensity on T2W images, representing a potential challenge to the radiologist, particularly after radiotherapy (10–13). Moreover, post-treatment changes can result in areas of fibrosis that are also difficult to differentiate from recurrence (14). MRI has proven to be superior to computed tomography (CT) in distinguishing fibrosis and scarring from active disease, but imaging findings are sometimes indeterminate, complicating the evaluation of recurrent disease (3). In recent years, the functional MRI techniques such as dynamic multiphase contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) have emerged as fundamental tools in female pelvic imaging evaluation (15). Although DCE was shown to be more accurate than T2W alone for tumor recurrence identification, the use of both sequences is recommended (10). Recently, DWI has been added to pelvic MRI protocols to increase diagnostic accuracy in tumor staging. This technique is a functional tool that relies on tissue water displacement to create a contrasted image. For correct evaluation and avoidance of pitfalls, the generated images must be interpreted alongside anatomical sequences. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map is also needed to reduce image misinterpretation, for example due to the T2 shine-through effect (15). In highly cellular tissues, water movement is restricted and such lesions appear bright at high b-values (1000 s/mm2) and have low ADC value, appearing dark gray on ADC maps in contrast to areas of freely moving water such as urine in the bladder (14). Some recent studies have suggested that DWI and ADC maps can be potentially useful in oncologic follow-up (14, 16). The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of T2W/DWI with that of conventional anatomical sequences alone and T2W/DCE imaging sequences in the evaluation of recurrent disease in patients treated for uterine cervical carcinoma.