Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Upper Abdomen: Technical Issues and Clinical Applications

Diffusion tensor imaging in the differentiation of adrenal adenoma and metastases

“…As a result, tumoral tissue commonly exhibits high signal intensity on DWI and decreased ADCs. The greater restriction of diffusion in neoplastic cells has been attributed to increased amounts of membranes, cellular matrices, organelles, cytoskeletal components, and macromolecules (5,6,11,12).…”

“…In recent years, the role of diffusionweighted imaging (DWI) in the evaluation of adrenal lesions has been investigated (5). DWI is well known to provide valuable qualitative and quantitative data regarding the cellularity and cell membrane integrity in various tissues based on measurements of Brownian motion (6). The role of DWI has been investigated in a variety of tumors, and significant differences in apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) were detected between tumoral and non-tumoral tissues (5)(6)(7).…”

“…DWI is well known to provide valuable qualitative and quantitative data regarding the cellularity and cell membrane integrity in various tissues based on measurements of Brownian motion (6). The role of DWI has been investigated in a variety of tumors, and significant differences in apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) were detected between tumoral and non-tumoral tissues (5)(6)(7). With the help of the echo planar imaging (EPI) and parallel imaging technology, DWI has also been applied with acceptable resolution and acquisition times to the abdominal viscera (6).…”

“…The role of DWI has been investigated in a variety of tumors, and significant differences in apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) were detected between tumoral and non-tumoral tissues (5)(6)(7). With the help of the echo planar imaging (EPI) and parallel imaging technology, DWI has also been applied with acceptable resolution and acquisition times to the abdominal viscera (6). The role of DWI has been investigated in various intra-abdominal viscera, including the genital organs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and other regions of the gastrointestinal tract (6)(7)(8)(9)(10).…”

“…With the help of the echo planar imaging (EPI) and parallel imaging technology, DWI has also been applied with acceptable resolution and acquisition times to the abdominal viscera (6). The role of DWI has been investigated in various intra-abdominal viscera, including the genital organs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and other regions of the gastrointestinal tract (6)(7)(8)(9)(10). There are a limited number of studies that use DWI to examine the adrenal glands, and most of these studies suggest that there is no significant difference in the ADCs of benign and malignant adrenal lesions (5,11).…”