Han Wubing, Xin Cheng, Wang Zeguo, Wang Fei, Cheng Yu, Yang Xingrong, Zhou Yangyun, Liu Juntong, Yu Wanjiang, Wang Shaowu
Department of Radiology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, 5 Donghai Middle Rd, Qingdao, 266071, China.
Department of Radiology, The Second Hospital, Dalian Medical University, 467 Zhongshan Rd, Dalian, 116023, China.
BMC Med Imaging. 2024 Dec 18;24(1):340. doi: 10.1186/s12880-024-01526-8.
The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and microvessel density (MVD) have been widely employed as angiogenesis indicators in the diagnosis and treatment of soft tissue sarcomas. While diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) imaging hold potential in assessing angiogenesis in other tumors, their reliability in correlating with angiogenesis in soft tissue sarcomas remains uncertain, contingent upon accurately acquiring the region of interest (ROI).
23 patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) confirmed by pathology were selected, underwent DKI and H-MRS at 3.0T MRI. The DKI parameters mean diffusivity (MD), mean kurtosis (MK), kurtosis anisotropy (KA), and H-MRS parameters choline (Cho), lipid/lactate (LL) were measured by two radiologists. Two pathologists obtained pathological slices using a new sampling method called MRI-pathology control and evaluated VEGF and MVD in the selected regions. Correlations between MRI parameters and angiogenesis markers were assessed by Person or Spearman tests.
The DKI parameters MD and KA, and the H-MRS parameters Cho and LL, have varying degrees of correlation with the expression levels of VEGF and MVD. Among them, Cho exhibits the strongest correlation (r = 0.875, P < 0.001; r = 0.807, P < 0.001).
Based on this preliminary clinical studies, DKI and H-MRS parameters are correlated with angiogenesis markers obtained through the "MRI-pathology control" method.
血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）和微血管密度（MVD）已被广泛用作软组织肉瘤诊断和治疗中的血管生成指标。虽然扩散峰度成像（DKI）和质子磁共振波谱（H-MRS）成像在评估其他肿瘤的血管生成方面具有潜力，但它们与软组织肉瘤血管生成的相关性可靠性仍不确定，这取决于能否准确获取感兴趣区域（ROI）。
选取23例经病理确诊的软组织肉瘤（STS）患者，在3.0T MRI下行DKI和H-MRS检查。由两名放射科医生测量DKI参数平均扩散率（MD）、平均峰度（MK）、峰度各向异性（KA），以及H-MRS参数胆碱（Cho）、脂质/乳酸（LL）。两名病理科医生采用一种名为MRI-病理对照的新采样方法获取病理切片，并评估所选区域的VEGF和MVD。通过Person或Spearman检验评估MRI参数与血管生成标志物之间的相关性。
DKI参数MD和KA，以及H-MRS参数Cho和LL，与VEGF和MVD的表达水平有不同程度的相关性。其中，Cho的相关性最强（r = 0.875，P < 0.001；r = 0.807，P < 0.001）。
基于这项初步临床研究，DKI和H-MRS参数与通过“MRI-病理对照”方法获得的血管生成标志物相关。
