title: The diagnostic value of 1.5-T diffusion-weighted MR imaging in detecting 5 to 10 mm metastatic cervical lymph nodes of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: The aim of the study was to prospectively assess the diagnostic accuracy of 1.5 T diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for 5 to 10 mm metastatic cervical lymph nodes of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). All patients with histopathologically confirmed NPC underwent DWI with 2 b values of 0 and 800 s/mm were enrolled. The shortest axial diameter and mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value were recorded when lymph nodes with a shortest axial diameter from 5 to 10 mm were measured. The correlation between the pathological diagnoses and mean ADC values in the benign and metastatic lymph nodes were compared using the Z test. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of DWI. Three hundred fourteen nodes of 52 patients with NPC consisted of 46.5% (146/314) metastatic lymph nodes and 53.5% (168/314) benign lymph nodes. The mean ADC value (×10 mm/s) of benign lymph nodes was (1.110 ± 0.202), which was significantly higher than that of metastatic nodes (0.878 ± 0.159) (P < 0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value, accuracy for differentiating metastatic from benign lymph nodes using a cutoff ADC value of 0.924 × 10 mm/s was 83.56%, 82.74%, 80.79%, 85.28%, and 82.80%, respectively. The area under the ROC curve was 0.851 (95% confidence intervals: 0.807-0.889). This study demonstrated that DWI is helpful in detecting 5 to 10 mm metastatic lymph nodes of patients with NPC.
authors: Department of Radiology Department of Head and Neck Surgery Department of Ultrasound Department of Pathology, Affiliated Tumor Hospital, Guang xi Medical University, Nanning, P.R. China.
authors: Guan Qiao
authors: GQ
authors: Jin
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Yang
authors: Li Dong
authors: LD
authors: Liu
authors: Dan Ke
authors: DK
authors: Su
authors: Duo Ping
authors: DP
authors: Wang
authors: Sheng Fa
authors: SF
authors: Zhao
authors: Zhi Ling
authors: ZL
authors: Liao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity