Objective To explore the significance of MR diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) in evaluating the efficacy of radiochemotherapy for cervical carcinoma. Methods 32 patients pathologically confirmed with cervical carcinoma underwent routine pelvic MRI plain scan and DWI scan, and the longest tumor dimension and ADC value were determined before treatment and following external radiation at 20GY. Patients were followed up for 6 months following completion of treatment, and were assigned to the response group or non-response group according to RECIST. The ADC value and increase rate of ADC value, as well as the longest tumor dimension and tumor shrinkage rate, were compared between the two groups before treatment and following external radiation at 20GY. Results Between the response group including 25 patients and the non-response group including 7 patients, there were no statistically significant differences in ADC value, longest tumor dimension or tumor shrinkage rate(P＞0.05), but statistically significant difference in increase rate of ADC value(P＜0.05) before treatment and following external radiation at 20GY. Conclusion The increase rate of ADC value in the early treatment period was significantly higher in the response group than in the nonresponse group of cervical carcinoma, confirming that DWI sequence could present an early predictor of the therapeutic effect of radiochemotherapy for cervical carcinoma, thus providing evidence for optimizing the subsequent treatment regimen.