Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is increasingly used for the detection, characterization and diagnosis of various focal liver lesions (7-10).
OBJECTIVE:
to investigate the utility of (DWI) in evaluating solid focal liver lesions, and to measure the ADC values of these lesions trying to differentiate benign from malignant lesions.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
A prospective study was conducted at MRI units of Al-Imamain Al-Kadhimain medical city and Baghdad teaching hospital between June 2014 to January 2015. Study included of 51 patients with 87 solid focal liver lesions more than 10mm in diameter. They underwent DWI using 1.5 tesla MR units .Mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were measured and were correlated with histo-pathological results as well as follow-up imaging results.
RESULTS:
Of the 87 lesions, 50 (57.5%) were malignant and 37 (42.5%) were benign. The highest ADC value was for haemangioma with significant difference from other benign and malignant solid focal liver lesions. Mean ADC values for FNH and HA were close to each other with insignificant P value (0.903), but they were of significantly higher values than those of metastases and HCC. Mean ADC values for HCC and metastases were low and close to each other with insignificant P value (0.629). The mean ADC value of benign lesions was higher than that of malignant lesions with significant P value (0.0001). The mean size was 33.46±23.67mm for benign lesions and 40.04±41.81mm for malignant lesions, and this difference was statistically insignificant (P value 0.392).The mean age for malignant lesions (55.30±7.47 year) was higher than that of benign lesions (43.14±13.70year) and this difference was statistically significant (P value 0.0002).
CONCLUSION:
DWI is a good imaging modality for diagnosis and characterization of solid focal hepatic lesions, particularly in patients with renal impairment. In general ADC value of benign hepatic lesions was higher than the ADC value of malignant lesions.