Diagnostic Value of Diffusion-weighted Imaging and Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Values in the Differentiation of Breast Lesions, Histpathologic Subgroups and Correlatıon with Prognostıc Factors using 3.0 Tesla MR.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and diffusion-weighted imaging in differentiating benign from malignant breast lesions, histopathologic subtypes of breast tumors, and to find a correlation with prognostic factors using 3T MR.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 165 patients aged between 16 and 78 years with 181 histopathologically-verifed breast lesions were enrolled in this study. A 3T MR system and bilateral phased array breast coil was used. Diffusion-weighted imaging was performed with spin echo "echo planar" with "b" values: 50, 400, and 800 seconds/mm. ADC values were calculated for normal fibroglandular tissue and breast lesions. ADC values of independent groups were compared using Student's t-test. ROC analysis was used to find a threshold ADC value in the differentiation of lesions.

RESULTS

The mean ADC values were 1.35±0.16 × 10 mm/s for normal fibroglandular tissue, 1.41±0.24 × 10 mm/s for benign breast lesions and 0.83±0.19 × 10 mm/s for malignant breast lesions. The AUC with ROC analysis was 0.945 and the threshold for ADC was 1.08 × 10 mm/s with a sensitivity and specificity of 92% and 92%, respectively. The threshold value for ADC ratio was 0.9 with 96% sensitivity and 89% specificity. The mean ADC of malignant breast lesions was statistically lower for benign lesions (p<0.01). We found no correlation between the mean ADC values and ER-PR receptor, Her2, and Ki-67 values.

CONCLUSION

Diffusion-weighted imaging has high diagnostic value with high sensitivity and specificity in differentiating malignant and benign breast lesions.