A Comparative Study of Two-Compartment Exchange Models for Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI in Characterizing Uterine Cervical Carcinoma

A variety of tracer kinetic methods have been employed to assess tumor angiogenesis. The Standard two-Compartment model (SC) used in cervix carcinoma was less frequent, and Adiabatic Approximation to the Tissue Homogeneity (AATH) and Distributed Parameter (DP) model are lacking. This study compares two-compartment exchange models (2CXM) (AATH, SC, and DP) for determining dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) parameters in cervical cancer, with the aim of investigating the potential of various parameters derived from 2CXM for tumor diagnosis and exploring the possible relationship between these parameters in patients with cervix cancer. Parameters (tissue blood flow, F_p; tissue blood volume, V_p; interstitial volume, V_e; and vascular permeability, PS) for regions of interest (ROI) of cervix lesions and normal cervix tissue were estimated by AATH, SC, and DP models in 36 patients with cervix cancer and 17 healthy subjects. All parameters showed significant differences between lesions and normal tissue with a P value less than 0.05, except for PS from the AATH model, F_p from the SC model, and V_p from the DP model. Parameter V_e from the AATH model had the largest AUC (r = 0.85). Parameters F_p and V_p from SC and DP models and V_e and PS from AATH and DP models were highly correlated, respectively, (r > 0.8) in cervix lesions. Cervix cancer was found to have a very unusual microcirculation pattern, with over-growth of cancer cells but without evident development of angiogenesis. V_e has the best performance in identifying cervix cancer. Most physiological parameters derived from AATH, SC, and DP models are linearly correlated in cervix cancer.