Differentiation of clinically benign and malignant breast lesions using diffusion-weighted imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in distinguishing between benign and malignant breast lesions.


METHODS
Fifty-two female subjects (mean age = 58 years, age range = 25-75 years) with histopathologically proven breast lesions underwent DWI of the breasts with a single-shot echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequence using large b values. The computed mean apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) of the breast lesions and cell density were then correlated.


RESULTS
The ADCs varied substantially between benign breast lesions ((1.57 +/- 0.23) x 10(-3) mm(2)/second) and malignant breast lesions ((0.97 +/- 0.20) x 10(-3) mm(2)/second). In addition, the mean ADCs of the breast lesions correlated well with tumor cellularity (P < 0.01, r = -0.542).


CONCLUSIONS
The ADC would be an effective parameter in distinguishing between malignant and benign breast lesions. Further, tumor cellularity has a significant influence on the ADCs obtained in both benign and malignant breast tumors.
Department of Radiology, General Navy Hospital, Beijing, China. guoyong@public.fhnet.cn.net
Yong
Y
Guo
You-Quan
YQ
Cai
Zu-Long
ZL
Cai
Yuan-Gui
YG
Gao
Ning-Yu
NY
An
Lin
L
Ma
Srikanth
S
Mahankali
Jia-Hong
JH
Gao
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged