The Value Of Amide Proton Transfer Imaging In Predicting The Effect Of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma After Chemoradiotherapy

Objective To investigate the value of amide proton transfer imaging(APT)in predicting the efficacy of radiochemotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC)during short and medium follow-up.Methods The clinical information and MRI data of 36 NPC patients with radiochemotherapy were analyzed.The patients were divided into two groups of recurrent group(N = 12)and non-recurrence group(N = 24),and the maximum level area and APT values were measured for each group.Two independent samples were taken from the normal distribution using the t test,the approximate normal distribution using the rank sum test,comparing the APT level difference between the two groups before and during treatment.Receiver operator characteristic curve(ROC)was plotted to assess the diagnostic efficacy.Results There was no significant difference in the mean,median and 90 th percentile of APT between the recurrent and non-recurring groups before treatment.After 2 courses of chemotherapy and 5 courses of radiotherapy,although there was no significant difference of mean APT values between the two groups,the median and 90 th percentile APT values were significantly different between the recurrent(2.11±0.26% and 4.45±1.02% for median and 90 th percentile values,respectively)and non-recurrence(2.48±0.61% and 3.56±0.72% for median and 90 th percentile values,respectively)groups(P <0.05).In addition,the optimum threshold,sensitivity,specificity,the area under the ROC curve(AUC),and 95% confidence interval of median and 90% digits are1.76%,91.7%,55.8%,0.723,0.558～0.890 and 4.59%,41.7%,100%,0.736,0.552～0.920,respectively.There was no significant difference in the maximum level area between the two groups before and during treatment.Conclusions The median of APT combined with 90 th percentile can better predict the efficacy of radiochemotherapy for NPC,suggesting high risk recurrence patients.