Texture analysis of conventional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging for distinguishing sinonasal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma from squamous cell carcinoma.

Abstract

To evaluate the value of texture analysis (TA) of conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the differential diagnosis between sinonasal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Forty-two patients with sinonasal SCC and 30 patients with NHL were retrospectively enrolled. TAs were performed on T2-weighted image (T2WI), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted image (T1WI). Texture parameters, including mean value, skewness, kurtosis, entropy and uniformity were obtained and compared between sinonasal SCC and NHL groups. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the diagnostic value and identify the independent TA parameters. The mean value and entropy of ADC, and mean value of contrast-enhanced T1WI were significantly lower in the sinonasal NHL group than those in the SCC group (all P < 0.05). ROC analysis indicated that the entropy of ADC had the best diagnostic performance (AUC 0.832; Sensitivity 0.95; Specificity 0.67; Cutoff value 6.522). Logistic regression analysis showed that the entropy of ADC (P = 0.002, OR = 26.990) was the independent parameter for differentiating sinonasal NHL from SCC. TA parameters of conventional MRI and DWI, particularly the entropy value of ADC, might be useful in the differentiating diagnosis between sinonasal NHL and SCC.