A trial looking at using different scans to see how well treatment works for head and neck cancer

The team found that the DWI-MRI and PET-CT scans were helpful to see how well treatment worked for many head and neck cancers. 

Trial design
65 people took part in this trial. Everyone had a DWI-MRI and PET-CT scan at 6 weeks and 12 weeks after treatment. 

Results
The team looked at whether the scans could show who might be alive and not have any sign of their cancer 2 years after treatment. They found that the scans done at 6 weeks and 12 weeks helped to show this. 

Some people with a head and neck cancer would have had a previous infection with the human papilloma virus  (HPV). The team looked at whether this made a difference to how well the scans worked.  

They found that for a group of people the scans weren’t helpful. These were people with cancer of the throat just behind the mouth oropharynx  who had HPV. 

Conclusion
The team concluded that DWI-MRI and PET-CT scans could show how well treatment might work. But the scans may not be useful for people who have had HPV. 

This was a small trial. Researchers need to do further trials with larger numbers of people to find out whether:

•    doing a DWI-MRI scan 12 weeks after treatment can show how well treatment might work
•    HPV does affect how well DWI-MRI scan might work

There are ongoing studies which will help make clear the role of DWI-MRI scan has in predicting whether people respond to treatment.

More detailed information
There is more information about this research in the references below. 

Please note, these articles are not in plain English. They have been written for healthcare professionals and researchers.

Correlations between DW-MRI and 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma following definitive chemo-radiotherapy

Steve Connor, Cherry Sit and others

Cancer Reports, 2021. Volume 4, Issue e1360, Pages 1-14.

Apparent diffusion coefficient agreement and reliability using different region of interest methods for the evaluation of head and neck cancer post chemo- radiotherapy

Mustafa Anjari, Amrita Guha and others

Dentomaxillofacial Radiology,2021. Volume 50, Issue 20200579. Pages 1-8.

MRI in head and neck cancer following chemoradiotherapy: what is the optimal delay to demonstrate maximal response?

S. E. J. Connor, C. Burd and others

European Radiology, 2021. Volume 31, Pages 9273–9286.

The impact of Human Papilloma Virus status on the prediction of head and neck cancer chemoradiotherapy outcomes using the pre-treatment apparent diffusion coefficient

Steve Connor, Mustafa Anjari and others

British Journal of Radiology, 2021. Volume 95: 20210333.

The ability of post‑chemoradiotherapy DWI ADCmean and 18F‑FDG SUVmax to predict treatment outcomes in head and neck cancer: impact of human papilloma virus oropharyngeal cancer status

S. Connor, C. Sit and others

Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 2021. Volume 147, Pages 2323–2336.

Where this information comes from

We have based this summary on the information in the articles above. These have been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in medical journals. We have not analysed the data ourselves. As far as we are aware, the links we list above are active and the articles are free and available to view.