Role of 3-T diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in differentiation between benign and malignant hepatic lesions

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AimTo evaluate the ability of DWIs to distinguish between benign and malignant focal hepatic lesions (FHLs) using 3T MR. Material and methodsA total of 73 FHLs in 48 patients were evaluated. There were 28 benign lesions including 13 hemangiomas (17.8%), 8 hepatic cysts (10.9%), 4 regenerating hepatic nodules (5.4%), 2 adenomas (2.7%) and 1 focal fatty infiltration (1.3%). The others 45 lesions were malignant including 28 hepatocellular carcinomas (38.3%), 15 metastases (20.5%) and 2 cholangiocarcinomas (2.7%). The study used two b values (0 and 800s/mm2) and the ADC values were calculated. ResultsThe mean ADC value for simple liver cysts was 2.58±0.35×10−3mm2/s, for solid benign lesions was 1.63±0.41×10−3mm2/s and for malignant lesions was 1.21±0.38×10−3mm2/s with statistical difference (p<0.0001). We found that the best ADC cutoff value was 1.49×10−3mm2/s with accuracy of 83.6% in differentiation between the all benign and malignant FHLs. While with exclusion of the cystic hepatic lesions, the best ADC cutoff value was reduced to be 1.35×10−3mm2/s with accuracy of 78.5%. ConclusionsDWI can be used to differentiate between the benign and malignant FHLs.