Objective: To explore the feasibility of the whole tumor histogram analysis parameters derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) based on stack-of stars (StarVIBE) to predict T and N staging of resectable gastric cancer (GC).
Methods: Eighty-seven patients confirmed as GC by histopathology were enrolled in this prospective study. DCE-MRI were performed before surgery, and quantitative DCE parameters (K^trans, K_ep, V_e) and histogram metrics (Skewness, Kurtosis and Entropy) were measured by Omni-Kinetics software. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) testing was used to determine the consistency of K^trans, K_ep and V_e values and histogram metrics values between two radiologists using Bland–Altman analysis. The quantitative DCE parameters or histogram metrics values between T stage or N stage were compared using ANOVA or Kruskal–Wallis testing. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses was performed to find out the best parameters for identifying T and N staging.
Results: There was statistical difference in K^trans, K_ep, V_e and entropy to identify T staging (P=0.015, 0.033, < 0.001, and 0.007, respectively), and in pairwise comparisons of V_e values showed statistically difference between T1+2 and T3 group (P< 0.001), T1+2 and T4 group (P< 0.001). There were statistical differences in V_e to identify N staging (P=0.041). In ROC analysis, V_e was the best parameter for identifying T staging (AUC: 0.788, the sensitivity and specificity was 0.929 and 0.578, respectively) and N staging (AUC: 0.590, the sensitivity and specificity was 0.714 and 0.899, respectively).
Conclusion: The whole tumor histogram analysis parameters derived from StarVIBE DCE-MRI may be able to quantitatively evaluate T and N staging of GC, so as to help clinical treatment decision optimization.
Keywords: magnetic resonance imaging, quantitative DCE parameters, histogram metrics, starVIBE, T and N staging, stomach neoplasms