The Role of Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Study of Primary Tumor and Pelvic Lymph Node Metastasis in Stage IB1–IIA1 Cervical Cancer

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the value of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in demonstrating the metastatic potential of primary tumor and differentiating metastatic lymph nodes (MLNs) from nonmetastatic lymph nodes (non-MLNs) in stage IB1–IIA1 cervical cancer. Methods Fifty-seven stage IB1–IIA1 subjects were included. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) parameters of primary tumors and lymph nodes and the conventional imaging features of the lymph nodes were measured and analyzed. Mann-Whitney test and χ 2 test were used to analyze statistically significant parameters, logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis, and receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to compare the diagnostic performance of the MLNs. Results Nineteen subjects had lymph node metastasis. A total of 94 lymph nodes were evaluated, including 30 MLNs and 64 non-MLNs. There were no significant difference in ADC and DCE-MRI parameters between metastatic and nonmetastatic primary tumors. The heterogeneous signal was more commonly seen in MLNs than in non-MLNs ( P = 0.001). The values of ADC mean , ADC min , and ADC max of MLNs were lower than those of non-MLNs ( P < 0.001). The values of short-axis diameter, K trans , K ep , and V e of MLNs were higher than those of non-MLNs ( P < 0.05). Compared with individual MRI parameters, the combined evaluation of short-axis diameter, ADC mean , and K trans showed the highest area under the curve of 0.930. Conclusions Diffusion-weighted imaging and DCE-MRI could not demonstrate the metastatic potential of primary tumor in stage IB1–IIA1 cervical cancer. Compared with individual MRI parameters, the combination of multiparametric MRI could improve the diagnostic performance of lymph node metastasis.