The enhanced T2 star weighted angiography (ESWAN) value for differentiating borderline from malignant epithelial ovarian tumors

Abstract

PurposeTo investigate the potential of ESWAN in differentiating borderline epithelial ovarian tumors (BEOTs) from malignant epithelial ovarian tumors (MEOTs). MethodThirty-four patients with 37 lesions were enrolled, including 14 BEOTs and 23 MEOTs. The magnitude, phase, R2* and T2* maps were analyzed by two observers. The regions of interest were drawn along the boundaries of tumors on the slice with maximal solid area, according to fat suppression T2WI and T1WI. The consistency among the three measurements taken by two observers was tested by intra-class correlation coefficients. Agreement of average values measured by two observers was evaluated by Bland-Altman plots. All the data of BEOTs and MEOTs were compared using the independent-sample t test. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance. ResultsNo statistical differences were observed in the magnitude and phase values between two tumor groups. The R2* value of BEOTs was lower than that of MEOTs (P < 0.001), whereas the T2* value of BEOTs was higher than that of MEOTs (P = 0.01). The area under the curve of R2* values was 0.894 and the corresponding cutoff value was 7.50 Hz, with the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 85.7%, 82.6% and 86.5%, respectively. The AUC of T2* values was 0.776 and the corresponding cutoff value was 143.73 ms with the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 71.4%, 82.6% and 78.4%, respectively. ConclusionsR2* and T2* values can be used for quantificationally differentiating BEOTs from MEOTs and the R2* has better diagnostic performance.