Predictive Value of Diffusion-weighted MRI Performed in Early Post-treatment in the Occurrence of Tumor Recurrence or Progression in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated With Chemoradiotherapy: a Pilot Study

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma are frequent. The chemoradiotherapy protocols are part of the reference treatment of locally advanced stage tumors. Diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) is a non radiating imaging, not requiring injection of gadolinium, giving informations on tumor activity, based on the brownian motion of water molecules. The differences in motion are expressed by the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). The ADC variations reflect changes in water molecules motion and redistribution between the intra- and extracellular compartments. Several studies have shown that malignant lesions have an ADC coefficient lowered as compared to benign lesions.