Early detection of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: performance of a short contrast-free screening MRI
Menée sur 354 patients dont le test de recherche de l'ADN du virus d'Epstein-Barr s'est avéré positif, cette étude évalue la performance d'une IRM sans contraste de courte durée pour détecter précocement un carcinome rhinopharyngé
Background : While contrast-enhanced MRI detects early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) not detected by endoscopic-guided biopsy (EGB), a short contrast-free screening MRI would be desirable for NPC screening programs. This study evaluated a screening MRI in a plasma Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-DNA NPC screening program.
Methods : EBV-DNA screen positive patients underwent endoscopy and endoscopy-positive patients underwent EGB. EGB was negative if biopsy was negative or was not performed. Patients also underwent a screening MRI. Diagnostic performance was based on histologic confirmation of NPC in the initial study or during a follow-up period of at least 2 years.
Results : The study prospectively recruited 354 patients for MRI and endoscopy, 40/354 (11.3%) endoscopy-positive patients underwent EGB. Eighteen had NPC (5.1%) and 336 without NPC (94.9%) were followed-up for a median of 44.8 months. MRI detected additional NPCs in 3/18 (16.7%) endoscopy-negative and 2/18 (11.1%) EGB-negative patients (stage I/II, n = 4; stage III, n = 1). None of the 24 EGB-negative patients who were MRI-negative had NPC. MRI missed NPC in 2/18 (11.1%), one of which was also endoscopy-negative. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of MRI, endoscopy and EGB were 88.9%, 91.1%, 34.8%, 99.4% and 91.0%; 77.8%, 92.3%, 35.0%, 98.7% and 91.5%; 66.7%, 92.3%, 31.6%, 98.1% and 91.0%, respectively.
Conclusion : A quick contrast-free screening MRI complements endoscopy in NPC screening programs. In EBV-screen-positive patients, MRI enables early detection of NPC that is endoscopically occult or negative on EGB and increases confidence that NPC has not been missed.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute , résumé, 2023