Correlation between tumor glucose metabolism and multiparametric functional MRI (IVIM and R2) metrics in cervical carcinoma: Evidence from integrated 18F‐FDG PET/MR

Background Multiparameter, multimodality 18F‐FDG PET/MRI holds great potential for the diagnosis of cervical cancer based on the correlation between tumor glucose metabolism and imaging parameters. Purpose To characterize the heterogeneity of tumor glucose metabolism by evaluating the correlation between 18F‐FDG uptake parameters and multiparametric functional MRI metrics in cervical carcinoma. Study Type Retrospective. Population Fifty‐four patients with cervical carcinoma. Field Strength/Sequence Hybrid PET/MR (3T), multi‐b DWI, and R2* mapping. Assessment The maximum and mean standardized uptake values (SUVmax and SUVmean, respectively) from PET and functional MRI metrics (D, D*, f, and R2*) were obtained. Cervical carcinoma tissues also underwent HIF‐1α, VEGF, and GLUT‐1 immunohistochemical staining. Statistical Tests Single‐factor Spearman rank and Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis were applied. Results R2*, D, and f have different degrees of correlation (moderate, weak, moderately strong correlation, respectively) with SUVmax and SUVmean (r = 0.530 and 0.527, and P