The effect of age on apparent diffusion coefficient values in normal spleen: a preliminary study

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Spleen Anatomy

Background:

• The spleen's role in immune response and filtration is well-established.
• Understanding normal organ characteristics is crucial for accurate disease detection.
• Age-related changes in organ physiology can impact imaging biomarkers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate and characterize the effect of age on apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in the normal spleen.
• To establish normative data for splenic ADC values across different age groups.
• To determine the correlation between splenic ADC values and patient age.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of spleen ADC values in 127 patients aged 10-79 years.
• Utilized Spearman's correlation coefficient to assess age-dependency of ADC values.
• Included patients with normal abdominal magnetic resonance imaging findings.

Main Results:

• A significant reduction in splenic ADC values was observed with increasing age.
• A strong negative correlation was found between age and splenic ADC values (r = -0.702, p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Splenic ADC values demonstrably decline with advancing age.
• These age-related changes in splenic ADC should be considered during the interpretation of imaging studies for disease diagnosis.
• Establishing age-specific reference ranges for splenic ADC may improve diagnostic accuracy.