The Value of Multi-b-value Diffusion-weighted Imaging in Preoperative Diagnosis of Pancreatic Carcinoma.

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of multi-b-value diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in preoperative diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma. Methods Retrospective analysis was used to compare the routine magnetic resonance imaging and DWI features with b-value of 33 cases of pancreatic carcinomas and 12 cases of benign pancreatic tumors. Results T1WI demonstrated a pancreatic head mass in 16 cases, pancreatic body mass in 10 cases, and pancreatic tail mass with pancreatic atrophy in 7 cases. 8 cases had hepatic metastases, 13 cases had invasion or envelopment of mesenteric vessels, 4 cases had bone metastases and 10 cases had lymph node metastases. DWI demonstrated an inhomogeneous high signal with unclear margins. Necrotic tissue demonstrated uneven low signal. A b-value of 1 100 s/mm² was associated with a high signal with poor anatomical delineation. A b-value of 700 s/mm² was associated with apparent diffusion coefficient that were useful in distinguishing benign and malignant pancreatic carcinomas (< 0.05) . The ADCs have no differentiation between the two tumors in the b values of 50, 350, 400, 450 and 1 100 s/mm². Conclusion DWI is a proposed method which provides more information for preoperative diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]