Predicting the efficacy of induction chemotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: histogram analysis of quantitative synthetic MRI

Motivation: In nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients, there is a significant variation in tumor response to induction chemotherapy (ICT), which directly impacts prognosis. To address this issue, we aimed to explore a novel imaging biomarker based on pre-treatment synthetic MRI to predict which patients would benefit the most from the additional ICT. Goal(s): Evaluating the value of pre-treatment synthetic MRI quantitative parameter map histogram characteristics in predicting the efficacy of ICT for NPC. Approach: 40 NPC patients were prospectively enrolled, and each was imaged with synthetic MRI. Results: T2_Minimun and T2_RootMeanSquared show promise as imaging markers for predicting the response to ICT in NPC. Impact: The utilization of synthetic MRI may serve as an effective diagnostic tool for evaluating the response to ICT in clinical practice. Identifying patients who are unlikely to respond to ICT early on, can help offer them alternative treatment options.