Differentiation of T1 stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma and lymphoid hyperplasia by mono-exponential and bi-exponential metrics of TSE DWI

Abstract

We aimed to differentiate between T1 stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and nasopharyngeal lymphoid hyperplasia using multiple b-values Turbo-spin-echo DWI acquisition. Turbo-spin-echo DWI were adopted to minimize susceptibility artifacts in nasopharynx. Mono-exponential and bi-exponential models were both used to generate ADC, D, D* and f maps. We found that T1 stage NPC had significant lower ADC and D, higher D* than nasopharyngeal lymphoid hyperplasia. Furthermore, D has best diagnostic efficacy with highest area under curve in ROC analysis, indicating that it's a potential imaging biomarker for accurate early diagnosis of T1 stage NPC.