Value of energy spectrum CT volume quantitative parameters in differentiating pathological types of colorectal cancer

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical value of energy spectrum CT volume quantitative parameters in differentiating pathological types of colorectal cancer. Methods The clinical and imaging data of 66 patients (16 cases of mucinous adenocarcinoma and 50 cases of tubular adenocarcinoma) with colorectal cancer confirmed by pathology in our hospital from January 2019 to November 2021 were collected and retrospectively analyzed. The volume parameters and two-dimensional parameters of the tumor, including iodine (water) concentration, water (iodine) concentration and effective atomic number, were measured by different methods of region of interest (ROI) acquisition, and normalized iodine (water) concentration (NIC) was calculated. Student's t test or Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison between groups, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of statistically significant parameters for pathological types of colorectal cancer. Results In terms of energy spectrum volume parameters, iodine (water) concentration, NIC and Eff-Z in arterial and venous phases were significantly different (P < 0.01). The iodine (water) concentration, NIC and Eff-Z of mucinous adenocarcinoma were lower than those of tubular adenocarcinoma. However, in the two-dimensional parameters, only iodine (water) concentration, NIC and Eff-Z in venous phase had significant differences among groups (P < 0.05). The volumetric iodine (water) concentration and NIC in mucinous adenocarcinoma were lower than corresponding two-dimensional parameters. ROC curve showed that the area under the curve of energy spectrum volume parameters was higher than that of two-dimensional parameters. Among them, arterial volume NIC had the highest diagnostic efficiency, with a sensitivity of 82.0% and specificity of 87.5%. Conclusion The quantitative parameters of CT volume of energy spectrum may have greater potential clinical value in differentiating mucinous colorectal adenocarcinoma from tubular adenocarcinoma than two-dimensional parameters.

Keywords

• colorectal cancer
• mucinous adenocarcinoma
• tubular adenocarcinoma
• energy spectrum ct