MRI Diffusion Imaging as an Additional Biomarker for Monitoring Chemotherapy Efficacy in Tumors

TL;DR

This study shows that MRI diffusion imaging can detect early changes in tumor cellularity during chemotherapy in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma patients.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that ADC and rADC values can serve as early functional biomarkers for chemotherapy response in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma.

Findings

ADC values increased significantly after three cycles of chemotherapy in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma patients.

rADC showed a statistically significant change (p = 0.0086) after treatment, indicating potential as a biomarker.

Heterogeneous tumors showed significant differences in ADC values between lesion areas and lowest signal regions.

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Soft tissue sarcomas account for approximately 7% of all malignant tumors in the pediatric population. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements may provide early functional biomarkers of treatment response by reflecting changes in tumor cellularity. This study evaluated whether ADC-derived parameters can serve as quantitative biomarkers of neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma. Materials and Methods: This retrospective single-center study included 14 patients aged ≤18 years with histopathologically confirmed rhabdomyosarcoma who underwent MRI before treatment and after three cycles of chemotherapy. Twenty-five patients were initially identified; eleven were excluded due to imaging artifacts or absence of baseline examination. ADC maps were generated on 1.5T and 3T scanners. Regions of interest were placed over the entire lesion and areas with the lowest ADC signal. Relative ADC (rADC) was calculated by normalizing tumor ADC to adjacent healthy muscle. Paired t-tests were used to compare pre- and post-treatment values. Results: At baseline, 13/14 patients (93%) demonstrated diffusion restriction. Mean ADC increased from 1.11 × 10−3 mm2/s (SD ± 0.48) at baseline to 1.63 × 10−3 mm2/s (SD ± 0.67) after treatment. The paired t-test for rADC yielded t = −3.089 (p = 0.0086, 95% CI: −0.79 to −0.14), indicating a statistically significant change. There was a significant difference between the ADC values of the entire lesion and the areas with the lowest signal in tumors with a heterogenic structure, t = 2.862, p = 0.013. Conclusions: ADC and rADC increased significantly after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma, suggesting potential utility as early functional biomarkers of treatment response. These preliminary findings require validation in larger multicenter prospective studies with correlation to histopathological response and clinical outcomes before clinical implementation.

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