Differentiation of Pancreatic lesions using Diffusion-Weighted MRI

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in diagnosis of pancreatic lesions, to compare diagnostic accuracy of conventional MRI (MRI-c), DWI and diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of lesions. Patient and methods: Thirty-six patients with pancreatic lesions (12 malignant and 24 benign) were included. MRI-c and DWI (b values 500 and 1000 s/mm2) were performed prospectively and consecutively in a 1.5-T system. Results: The analysis was retrospectively performed. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values of DWI and MRI-c were 92%, 97%, 96%, 85%, 98% and 100%, 97%, 97%, 86%, 100%, respectively. Mean ADC values of malignant lesions were significantly lower than those of benign lesions. DWI has a similar accuracy to MRI-c in diagnosis of pancreas cancer. Conclusion: Malignant tumors had lower ADC values than benign ones. DWI may be a routine sequence in oncologic settings and it provides much useful information about tumoral tissue.

Keywords

• Pancreas
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI)
• Neoplasm