Tissue Characteristics of Endometrial Carcinoma Analyzed by Quantitative Synthetic MRI and Diffusion-Weighted Imaging

BACKGROUND

This study investigates the association of T1, T2, proton density (PD) and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) with histopathologic features of endometrial carcinoma (EC).

METHODS

One hundred and nine EC patients were prospectively enrolled from August 2019 to December 2020. Synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was acquired through one acquisition, in addition to diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and other conventional sequences using 1.5T MRI. T1, T2, PD derived from synthetic MRI and ADC derived from DWI were compared among different histopathologic features, namely the depth of myometrial invasion (MI), tumor grade, cervical stromal invasion (CSI) and lymphovascular invasion (LVSI) of EC by the Mann-Whitney U test. Classification models based on the significant MRI metrics were constructed with their respective receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and their micro-averaged ROC was used to evaluate the overall performance of these significant MRI metrics in determining aggressive histopathologic features of EC.

RESULTS

EC with MI had significantly lower T2, PD and ADC than those without MI (p = 0.007, 0.006 and 0.043, respectively). Grade 2-3 EC and EC with LVSI had significantly lower ADC than grade 1 EC and EC without LVSI, respectively (p = 0.005, p = 0.020). There were no differences in the MRI metrics in EC with or without CSI. Micro-averaged ROC of the three models had an area under the curve of 0.83.

CONCLUSIONS

Synthetic MRI provided quantitative metrics to characterize EC with one single acquisition. Low T2, PD and ADC were associated with aggressive histopathologic features of EC, offering excellent performance in determining aggressive histopathologic features of EC.

Gastroesophageal reflux is associated with an increased risk of gastric cardiac polyps: a case-control study of 140 cases

BACKGROUND

The pathogenesis of gastric cardiac polyps is not yet clear, and there is little research on their clinical and histopathologic characteristics and correlation with gastroesophageal reflux. Early detection and treatment of premalignant lesions in this area can prevent the development of cancer. We aimed to evaluate the clinical and histopathologic characteristics and risk factors of gastric cardiac polyps to improve the current understanding of the disease.

METHODS

Patients diagnosed with gastric cardiac polyps at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019, were sought for the study. The exclusion criteria were missing clinical data, insufficient pathological reports, gastric malignancy, or a previous history of gastroduodenal surgery. Ultimately, 140 patients were included in the case group, while 140 patients diagnosed with chronic superficial gastritis from the same 10-year period were identified randomly and selected as a control group. The exclusion criteria for this group were the same as those for the case group. Patients in both groups were matched in age and gender to ensure comparability between the two groups. We evaluated and compared the demographic and clinical data and endoscopic impressions of each group and analyzed the endoscopic, histologic features of gastric cardiac polyps.

RESULTS

Gastroesophageal reflux was significantly associated with a higher risk of gastric cardiac polyps after adjustment for other covariates [adjusted odds ratio (OR) =2.809; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.178-6.697; P=0.020]. Most gastric polyps were single (97.9%), sessile (92.8%), and small polyps with a diameter less than 1 cm (88.6%). Most were located in the gastroesophageal junction region (65.0%) with a smooth surface (56.4%) or surface congestion (30.0%). Hyperplastic (inflammatory) polyps (88.0%) were the most common pathological type and comprised gastric-type foveolar epithelium, squamous epithelium, or admixture of the two epithelia, with a minority showing intestinal metaplasia, mild, or moderate epithelial dysplasia.

CONCLUSIONS

Gastroesophageal reflux was associated with a significantly higher incidence of gastric cardiac polyps with a 2.8-fold increased risk. Most gastric cardiac polyps were found to be benign lesions and had a favorable prognosis in the clinic despite their malignant potential.

Histogram Analysis of Diffusion Weighted Imaging at 3T is Useful for Prediction of Lymphatic Metastatic Spread, Proliferative Activity, and Cellularity in Thyroid Cancer

Pre-surgical diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is increasingly important in the context of thyroid cancer for identification of the optimal treatment strategy. It has exemplarily been shown that DWI at 3T can distinguish undifferentiated from well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma, which has decisive implications for the magnitude of surgery. This study used DWI histogram analysis of whole tumor apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps. The primary aim was to discriminate thyroid carcinomas which had already gained the capacity to metastasize lymphatically from those not yet being able to spread via the lymphatic system. The secondary aim was to reflect prognostically important tumor-biological features like cellularity and proliferative activity with ADC histogram analysis. Fifteen patients with follicular-cell derived thyroid cancer were enrolled. Lymph node status, extent of infiltration of surrounding tissue, and Ki-67 and p53 expression were assessed in these patients. DWI was obtained in a 3T system using b values of 0, 400, and 800 s/mm². Whole tumor ADC volumes were analyzed using a histogram-based approach. Several ADC parameters showed significant correlations with immunohistopathological parameters. Most importantly, ADC histogram skewness and ADC histogram kurtosis were able to differentiate between nodal negative and nodal positive thyroid carcinoma. Conclusions: histogram analysis of whole ADC tumor volumes has the potential to provide valuable information on tumor biology in thyroid carcinoma. However, further studies are warranted.