Whole-tumor apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram analysis to differentiate benign peripheral neurogenic...

Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram analyses have been used to differentiate tumor grades and predict therapeutic responses in various anatomic sites with moderate success.

To determine the ability of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with a whole-tumor ADC histogram analysis to differentiate benign peripheral neurogenic tumors (BPNTs) from soft tissue sarcomas (STSs).

Retrospective study, single institution.

In all, 25 BPNTs and 31 STSs.

Two-b value DWI (b-values = 0, 1000s/mm² ) was at 3.0T.

The histogram parameters of whole-tumor for ADC were calculated by two radiologists and compared between BPNTs and STSs.

Nonparametric tests were performed for comparisons between BPNTs and STSs. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The ability of each parameter to differentiate STSs from BPNTs was evaluated using area under the curve (AUC) values derived from a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

The mean ADC and all percentile parameters were significantly lower in STSs than in BPNTs (P < 0.001-0.009), with AUCs of 0.703-0.773. However, the coefficient of variation (P = 0.020 and AUC = 0.682) and skewness (P = 0.012 and AUC = 0.697) were significantly higher in STSs than in BPNTs. Kurtosis (P = 0.295) and entropy (P = 0.604) did not differ significantly between BPNTs and STSs.

Whole-tumor ADC histogram parameters except kurtosis and entropy differed significantly between BPNTs and STSs.

3 Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018.