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Advances in metabolic imaging technology for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: From mechanisms to applications
WANG Yulin  REN Huanhuan  ZHANG Jiuquan  LIU Daihong 

Cite this article as: WANG Y L, REN H H, ZHANG J Q, et al. Advances in metabolic imaging technology for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: From mechanisms to applications[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(4): 169-174. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.04.024.


[Abstract] Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a common head and neck malignancy, which presents clinical challenges including difficulties in early diagnosis and treatment resistance caused by intratumoral spatial heterogeneity. Evidence suggests that the occurrence and development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma are associated with metabolic reprogramming. Metabolic imaging techniques can noninvasively visualize abnormal metabolites to assess intratumoral spatial heterogeneity, offering new tools for early diagnosis, treatment response evaluation, and prognosis prediction in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In recent years, metabolic imaging techniques have developed rapidly, including 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET), hydrogen proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS), amide proton transfer (APT) imaging, multi-nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and metabolic tracer techniques. However, there is still a lack of systematic integrated analysis of the mechanisms of metabolic reprogramming in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, as well as the application value and limitations of the metabolic imaging techniques. This article will systematically review the above metabolic imaging techniques and their application value from the perspective of metabolic reprogramming, analyze the limitations of current research, and propose future research directions, aiming to provide theoretical basis and technical prospects for enhancing the level of precision diagnosis and treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
[Keywords] nasopharyngeal carcinoma；metabolic reprogramming；metabolic imaging；multi-nuclear magnetic resonance；diagnosis；treatment response evaluation；prognosis prediction

WANG Yulin1, 2   REN Huanhuan2   ZHANG Jiuquan2*   LIU Daihong2  

1 School of Medicine, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China

2 Department of Radiology, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing 400030, China

Corresponding author: ZHANG J Q, E-mail: zhangjq_radiol@163.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2026-01-21
Accepted  2026-04-10
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.04.024
Cite this article as: WANG Y L, REN H H, ZHANG J Q, et al. Advances in metabolic imaging technology for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: From mechanisms to applications[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(4): 169-174. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.04.024.

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