Gross Tumor Delineation in Esophageal Cancer on MRI Compared With 18F-FDG-PET/CT

Sophie E Vollenbrock, Marlies E Nowee, Francine E M Voncken, Alexis N T J Kotte, Lucas Goense, Peter S N van Rossum, Astrid L H M W van Lier, Stijn W Heijmink, Annemarieke Bartels-Rutten, Frank J Wessels, Berthe M P Aleman, Luc Dewit, Linda G W Kerkmeijer, Edwin P M Jansen, Martijn Intven, Irene M Lips, Gert J Meijer, Jasper Nijkamp

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Abstract

Purpose: Current delineation of the gross tumor volume (GTV) in esophageal cancer relies on computed tomography (CT) and combination with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). There is increasing interest in integrating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in radiation treatment, which can potentially obviate CT- or FDG-PET/CT-based delineation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of target delineation on T2-weighted (T2W) MRI and T2W including diffusion-weighted MRI (T2W + DW-MRI) compared with current-practice FDG-PET/CT.

Methods: Ten observers delineated primary esophageal tumor GTVs of 6 patients on FDG-PET/CT, T2W-MRI, and T2W + DW-MRI. GTVs, generalized conformity indices, in-slice delineation variation (root mean square), and standard deviations in the position of the most cranial and caudal delineated slice were calculated.

Results: Delineations on MRI showed smaller GTVs compared with FDG-PET/CT-based delineations. The main variation was seen at the cranial and caudal border. No differences were observed in conformity indices (FDG-PET/CT, 0.68; T2W-MRI, 0.66; T2W + DW-MRI, 0.68) and in-slice variation (root mean square, 0.13 cm on FDG-PET/CT; 0.10 cm on T2W-MRI; 0.14 cm on T2W + DW-MRI). In the 2 tumors involving the gastroesophageal junction, addition of DW-MRI to T2W-MRI significantly decreased caudal border variation.

Conclusions: MRI-based target delineation of the esophageal tumor is feasible with interobserver variability comparable to that with FDG-PET/CT, despite limited experience with delineation on MRI. Most variation was seen at cranial-caudal borders, and addition of DW-MRI to T2W-MRI may reduce caudal delineation variation of gastroesophageal junction tumors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)596-604
Number of pages9
JournalAdvances in Radiation Oncology
Volume4
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2019

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