Complementary roles of MRI and endoscopic examination in the early detection of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background Early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) evades detection when the primary tumor is hidden from view on endoscopic examination. Therefore, in a prospective study of subjects being screened for NPC using plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA, we conducted a study to investigate whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could detect endoscopically occult NPC. Patients and methods Participants with persistently positive EBV DNA underwent endoscopic examination and biopsy when suspicious for NPC, followed by MRI blinded to the endoscopic findings. Participants with a negative endoscopic examination and positive MRI were recalled for biopsy or surveillance. Diagnostic performance was assessed by calculating sensitivity, specificity and accuracy, based on the histologic confirmation of NPC in the initial study or in a follow-up period of at least two years. Results Endoscopic examination and MRI were performed on 275 participants, 34 had NPC, 2 had other cancers and 239 without cancer were followed-up for a median of 36months (24-60months). Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 76.5%, 97.5% and 94.9%, respectively, for endoscopic examination and 91.2%, 97.5% and 96.7%, respectively, for MRI. NPC was detected only by endoscopic examination in 1/34 (2.9%) participants (a participant with stage I disease), and only by MRI in 6/34 (17.6%) participants (stage I=4, II = 1, III = 1), two of whom had stage I disease and follow-up showing slow growth on MRI but no change on endoscopic examination for 36months. Conclusion MRI has a complementary role to play in NPC detection and can enable the earlier detection of endoscopically occult NPC.