Assessment of Correlation between Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Diffusion Weighted MR Imaging and Dynamic...

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Rheumatology

Background:

• Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the spine.
• The relationship between intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) parameters in AS remains unclear.
• Understanding these relationships can improve diagnostic and monitoring capabilities for AS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the correlation between IVIM diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and DCE-MRI parameters in patients with AS.
• To assess the potential of IVIM parameters in providing complementary information to DCE-MRI for AS assessment.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study of 44 AS patients using a 1.5-T MRI system.
• IVIM DWI acquired with 11 b values (0-800 s/mm²).
• Spearman's method used to analyze correlations between IVIM and DCE-MRI parameters.

Main Results:

• Excellent to good intra- and interobserver reproducibility for IVIM parameters (ICC = 0.804-0.981).
• Moderate positive correlations found between pure molecular diffusion (Ds) and maximum/relative enhancement (ME/RE).
• Perfusion-related diffusion (Df) showed a moderate negative correlation with ME; perfusion fraction (f) showed no significant correlation with DCE-MRI parameters.

Conclusions:

• IVIM parameters, especially perfusion fraction (f), may be critical for detecting AS progression.
• IVIM MRI offers a noninvasive method providing valuable perfusion information, potentially exceeding DCE-MRI.
• Further research into IVIM's role in AS is warranted.