Preliminary study of diffusion kurtosis imaging in thyroid nodules and its histopathologic correlation

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Oncology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Thyroid nodules require accurate diagnostic methods for timely management.
• Conventional diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has limitations in characterizing thyroid lesions.
• Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) offers advanced diffusion metrics potentially improving diagnostic capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic utility of DKI in patients with thyroid nodules.
• To assess the correlation between DKI parameters and histopathological factors.
• To compare the diagnostic performance of DKI with conventional DWI.

Main Methods:

• 58 patients with thyroid nodules underwent MRI, including DKI and DWI.
• Histopathological analysis included cell density, Ki-67, and VEGF.
• Statistical analysis involved t-tests, ROC curves, and Spearman's correlation.

Main Results:

• DKI parameters, cell density, and immunohistochemistry differed significantly between malignant and benign lesions.
• The D value achieved an AUC of 0.797, and K showed a sensitivity of 0.917.
• Moderate correlations were observed between diffusion parameters (ADC, D) and cell density/VEGF expression.

Conclusions:

• DKI parameters (D and K) offer advantages over conventional DWI for thyroid nodule diagnosis.
• The D value correlates with extracellular changes, while K relates to intracellular structures.
• DKI demonstrates superior diagnostic accuracy compared to DWI in identifying papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).