The value of PET/MR in evaluating the amplification of MYCN gene in children with neuroblastoma

Introduction: To investigate the value of quantitative parameters based on PET/MR in the evaluation of MYCN gene amplification in children with neuroblastoma.

Methods: PET/MR imaging data of 120 consecutive cases of neuroblastoma in our hospital from June 2017 to December 2023 were collected. The quantitative parameters obtained from PET/MR images included the maximum diameter (Dmax), minimum diameter (Dmin), mean diameter (Dmean), maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), and mean standardized uptake value (Mean). standardized uptake value (SUVmean), metabolical tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG). The children were divided into MYCN amplification group (n=32) and non-MYCN amplification group (n=88) according to the target gene copy number. The t-test was used to compare the two sets of data for the normally distributed continuous data, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for the non-normally distributed data. The diagnostic efficacy of statistically significant parameters in the amplification of MYCN gene was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC).

Results: There were statistically significant differences in the six quantitative parameters of Dmin, Dmean, SUVmax, SUVmean, MTV and TLG between the MYCN gene amplification group and the non-amplification group (P<0.05), and all six parameters were higher than those in the non-amplification group in the MYCN gene amplification group. ROC curve analysis showed that TLG had a high diagnostic performance in identifying whether the MYCN gene was amplified in children with neuroblastoma, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.731.

Conclusions: Quantitative parameters based on PET/MR have high diagnostic value in the evaluation of MYCN gene amplification in children with neuroblastoma.