Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Tracking the Mammary Architectural Features and Detecting Breast Cancer with Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: December 15, 2014
Diffusion-weighted echo-planar magnetic resonance imaging for the assessment of tumor cellularity in patients with
Dirk Schnapauff1, Martin Zeile, Manuel Ben Niederhagen
1Department of Radiology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. dirk.schnapauff@charite.de
Purpose:
To investigate the eligibility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for the evaluation of tumor cellularity in patients with soft-tissue sarcomas.
Materials And Methods:
Thirty consecutive patients with a total of 31 histologically-proven soft-tissue sarcomas prospectively underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including DWI with echo-planar imaging (EPI) technique immediately before open biopsy (N = 1) or tumor resection (N = 30). Fourteen patients had no previous anticancer treatment, 16 had received neoadjuvant therapy. Tumor cellularity as determined from histological sections was compared with minimum apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC).
Results:
Tumor cellularity correlated well with minimum ADC in a linear fashion, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of -0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.75 to -0.96). This relationship was not influenced by prior anticancer treatment. There was only a tendency toward lower ADC in tumor with higher grading but no significant dependency (P = 0.08).
Conclusion:
DWI has proven useful for the assessment of tumor cellularity in soft-tissue sarcomas. In result, DWI may be used as a powerful noninvasive tool to monitor responses of cytotoxic treatment as reflected by changes in tumor cellularity.
Insights
Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) effectively assesses tumor cellularity in soft-tissue sarcomas. This noninvasive technique can monitor treatment responses by reflecting changes in tumor cellularity.
Area of Science:
- Radiology
- Oncology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Soft-tissue sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of tumors.
- Accurate assessment of tumor cellularity is crucial for diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
- Noninvasive imaging techniques are needed to evaluate tumor characteristics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the eligibility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for assessing tumor cellularity in soft-tissue sarcomas.
- To determine the correlation between DWI-derived parameters and histological tumor cellularity.
Main Methods:
- Prospective study involving 30 patients with 31 soft-tissue sarcomas.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with DWI (echo-planar imaging technique) was performed before biopsy or resection.
- Tumor cellularity from histology was compared with minimum apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values.
Main Results:
- A strong linear correlation was found between tumor cellularity and minimum ADC (Pearson correlation coefficient = -0.88).
- This correlation was independent of prior anticancer treatment.
- A trend towards lower ADC in higher-grade tumors was observed but not statistically significant.
Conclusions:
- Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a valuable tool for evaluating tumor cellularity in soft-tissue sarcomas.
- DWI can serve as a noninvasive method to monitor treatment response by assessing changes in tumor cellularity.
