The application of MR diffusion weighted imaging in diagnosis of breast cancer

Objective:To discuss the technique of DWI and its diagnostic ability to differentiate benign from malignant breast lesions.Methods:53 cases(66 lesions) proved by pathologic results included 24 malignant lesions and 42 benign lesions.Philips Gyroscan-NT1.5PT6000 and a breast coil were used.DWI was done with single shot SE EPI sequence,b=0 s/mm2,500 s/mm2,800 s/mm2,1 000 s/mm2.Regard the upper bound of 95 % confidence interval of apparent diffusion coefficent(ADC) value as standard to diagnose benign and malignant,results were compared with pathology.Results:DWI showed benign and malignant lesions except 3.There were significant differences among these ADC values(P0.05).The ADC values of malignant group were lower then benign group(P0.01).The ADC values of malignant group were lower then normal group(P0.01).There were no differences between benign group and normal group.The threshold between malignant and benign lesions was 1.822×10-3 mm2/s according to the upper bound of 95% confidence interval of ADC value.The sensitivity and specificity for the threshold were 87.5%,71.4%,respectively.Conclusions:ADC value may help to differentiate benign and malignant breast lesions.DWI may be applied to detect breast cancer.