Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2026
Tracking the Mammary Architectural Features and Detecting Breast Cancer with Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: December 15, 2014
Diffusion-weighted MR imaging for detection of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
Xing-Yu Cui1, Hong-Wei Chen, Song Cai
1Department of Radiology, Wuxi People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, No. 299, QingYang Rd, Wuxi 214023, Jiangsu Province, China. cuixingyu76@hotmail.com
Objectives:
To measure the sensitivity of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and determine the most appropriate b value for DWI; to explore the correlation between the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value and the degree of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma differentiation.
Methods:
Preoperative diffusion-weighted imaging and magnetic resonance examinations were performed for 31 patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Tumor ADC values were measured, and the signal-to-noise ratio, contrast-to-noise ratio, and signal-intensity ratio between the diffusion-weighted images with various b values as well as the T2-weighted images were calculated. Pathologically confirmed patients were pathologically graded to compare the ADC value with different b values of tumor at different degrees of differentiation, and the results were statistically analyzed by using the Friedman test.
Results:
A total of 29 cases of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma were detected by DWI. As the b value increased, tumor signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio between the tumor and normal liver gradually decreased, but the tumor signal-intensity ratio gradually increased. When b=800 s/mm2, contrast-to-noise ratio between tumor and normal liver, tumor signal-intensity ratio, and tumor signal-to-noise ratio of diffusion-weighted images were all higher than those of T2-weighted images; the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). As the b value increased, the tumor ADC value gradually declined. As the degree of differentiation decreased, the tumor ADC value declined.
Conclusion:
The b value of 800 s/mm2 was the best in DWI of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; the lesion ADC value declined as the degree of cancerous tissue differentiation decreased.
