Which organ should be considered as a reference in diffusion weighted imaging of the abdomen? - repeatability of ADC measurements of the spleen and the renal cortex on a 1.5T MR

Abstract

Background. Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is a useful tool for the evaluation of focal lesions in the liver or kidneys, as well as for the diagnosis and assessment of the liver fibrosis process. Some reports show that the spleen and kidneys may serve as reference organs in the staging of liver fibrosis or the evaluation of focal liver lesions.

Variabilities in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements of the spleen and the paraspinal muscle: A single center large cohort study

“…Furthermore, in our study, the mean ADC spleen and ADC muscle were 0.80 ｘ10 −3 mm 2 /s and 1.54 ｘ10 −3 mm 2 /s, respectively. These values were consistent with the previously reported ADCs for these tissues [ [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] ].…”

“…In abdominal DWI studies, the spleen and paraspinal muscles are commonly used as references for normalizing the ADC. Currently, there is no consensus on whether the spleen or paraspinal muscle is a better choice as a reference organ for DWI studies of abdominal tissues [ [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] ]. In this study, we compared the variability in ADC measurements of the spleen and paraspinal muscles in a large cohort of patients to determine the preferred reference organ that can be used to normalize the ADC of the abdominal tissues.…”