Value of diffusion-weighted MR imaging in the differentiation between benign and malignant cervical lymph nodes

From multislice CT to whole-body biomarker imaging in lymphoma patients

“…A threshold value of 1.03 × 10 −3 mm 2 /s, could help to distinguish benign from malignant nodes with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 92.9% [6]. Holzapfel et al, have reported similar results using a threshold ADC value of 1.02×10 −3 mm 2 /s [7]. Also, Sumi et al demonstrated recently that MRI allows differentiation between lymphoma and squamous cell carcinoma on the basis of ADCs in cervical lymph nodes [8].…”

ADC measurements in the evaluation of lymph nodes in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma: feasibility study

“…lower ADC) compared to normal lymph nodes [9]. Previous studies [10][11][12][13][14][15] have shown that ADCs of lymphomatous lymph nodes are generally lower than those of metastatic lymph nodes and benign lymphadenopathy. However, these studies [10][11][12][13][14][15] exclusively investigated pathologic lymph nodes with different histologies and did not compare ADCs of lymphomatous lymph nodes to those of normal lymph nodes.…”

High-Resolution Diffusion-Weighted Imaging of Neck Lymph Nodes Using 2D-Single-Shot Interleaved Multiple Inner Volume Imaging Diffusion-Weighted Echo-Planar Imaging at 3T

“…[3][4][5][6]9,19 Although lower ADC values were reported at 3T than at 1.5T in the brain 20 and in abdominal organs, 21 there was no significant statistical difference for different field strength in neck imaging. 7 The water diffusivity should not depend on the magnetic field strength, because the molecular motion is purely a thermal phenomenon, not a nuclear MR characteristic.…”

“…DWEPI provides a quantitative measurement of the ADC of water protons in tissue. According to recent reports, an ADC value that is significantly lower in the metastatic LNs than that in the benign LNs can be used to differentiate malignant LNs from benign LNs [3][4][5][6] and can be a marker for prediction and early detection of chemoradiation therapy response. 7,8 DWEPI also can be used for the early detection of recurrence.…”

“…The typical axial spatial resolution of DWEPI used in head and neck imaging has been 2 ϫ 2 mm with 4 -5 mm thickness. 3,5,6,9 The conventional 2D-DWEPI technique, which is most widely used for DWI, is limited to intracranial DWI applications because of the geometric distortion that occurs in other locations. The geometric distortion and blurring in DWEPI can be reduced by reducing the imaging FOV in the PE direction, which induces aliasing-artifact in the PE direction.…”