Uterine cervical cancer (UCC) was the fourth leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. The conventional MRI hardly revealing the microstructure information. This study aimed to compare the value of amide proton transfer-weighted imaging (APTWI) and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in evaluating the histological grade of cervical squamous carcinoma (CSC) in addition to routine diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). | Hou et al. BMC Cancer 2022 22 87 https s12885-022-09205-z RESEARCH Open Access Comparative analysis of the value of amide proton transfer-weighted imaging and diffusion kurtosis imaging in evaluating the histological grade of cervical squamous carcinoma Mengyan Hou1 Kai Song2 Jipeng Ren3 Kaiyu Wang4 Jinxia Guo4 Yongchao Niu1 Zhenyu Li1 and Dongming Han3 Abstract Background Uterine cervical cancer UCC was the fourth leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. The conventional MRI hardly revealing the microstructure information. This study aimed to compare the value of amide proton transfer-weighted imaging APTWI and diffusion kurtosis imaging DKI in evaluating the histological grade of cervical squamous carcinoma CSC in addition to routine diffusion-weighted imaging DWI . Methods Forty-six patients with CSC underwent pelvic DKI and APTWI. The magnetization transfer ratio asymmetry MTRasym apparent diffusion coefficient ADC mean diffusivity MD and mean kurtosis MK were calculated and compared based on the histological grade. Correlation coefficients between each parameter and histological grade were calculated. Results The MTRasym and MK values of grade 1 G1 were significantly lower than those of grade 2 G2 and those parameters of G2 were significantly lower than those of grade 3 G3 . The MD and ADC values of G1 were signifi- cantly higher than those of G2 and those of G2 were significantly higher than those of G3. MTRasym and MK were both positively correlated with histological grade r and P AUC APTWI DKI gt AUC APTWI DWI gt AUC MTRasym gt AUC MK gt AUC MD gt AUC ADC where the differences between AUC APTWI DKI DWI AUC DKI DWI and AUC ADC were significant. For the diagnosis of G2 and G3 CSCs AUC APTWI DKI DWI gt AUC APTWI DWI gt AUC APTWI DKI gt AUC DKI DWI gt AUC MTRasym gt AUC MK gt AUC MD gt AUC ADC where the differences between AUC APTWI DKI DWI AUC APTWI DWI and AUC ADC were significant. Correspondence 15637359728@ .
