Prognostic value of pretreatment radiological MRI variables and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI on radiotherapy treatment outcome in laryngeal and hypopharyngeal tumors

•The prognostic value of pre-radiotherapy DCE-MRI was analyzed in head and neck cancer.•The area under the contrast concentration curve of 60 s (AUC60) was calculated.•Low AUC60p95 is independently prognostic for a worse 5-year overall survival.•Tumor volume is an independent prognostic variable when corrected for T-stage. This study aimed to determine the prognostic value of radiological magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) variables and dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)-MRI for local control (LC), disease control (DC), and overall survival (OS) in laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer patients after radiotherapy. 320 patients treated with radiotherapy were retrospectively included. Pretreatment MRIs were evaluated for the following anatomical tumor characteristics: cartilage invasion, extralaryngeal spread, and involvement of the anterior commissure, pre-epiglottic space, and paralaryngeal space. Pretreatment DCE-MRI was available in 89 patients. The median and 95th percentile of the 60-second area under the contrast-distribution-curve (AUC60median and AUC60p95) were determined in the tumor volume. Univariable log-rank test determined that extralaryngeal spread, tumor volume and T-stage were prognostic for worse LC, DC, and OS. A low AUC60p95 (