Role of diffusion-weighted MRI in evaluation of pediatric musculoskeletal soft tissue masses

Abstract Background In pediatric patients, soft tissue masses encompass a wide heterogeneous group of benign and malignant lesions. MRI is a powerful diagnostic tool in the workup of soft tissue tumors in children, and it helps in characterization of lesion and evaluation of the extent of the lesion. However, conventional MRI techniques are not specific in differentiating benign from malignant lesions. So to improve characterization of tumors, DWI was added to MRI techniques as it increases sensitivity and specificity by detecting the micro-diffusion changes of water into intra- and extracellular spaces. The aim of this work was to highlight the diagnostic value of DWI in detection and characterization of different musculoskeletal soft tissue masses in pediatrics. Results There was a statistically significant difference regarding the mean ADC value of benign and malignant masses (P value = 0.001*). The mean ADC value for all benign masses (n = 41) was 1.495 ± 0.55 SD × 10–3 mm2/s, while the mean ADC value for all malignant masses (n = 21) was 0.449 ± 0.27 SD × 10–3 mm2/s. The cutoff ADC value between benign and malignant masses was 0.88 × 10–3 mm2/s. This cutoff ADC value has sensitivity of 100.0%, specificity of 92.3%, PPV of 66.7%, NPV of 100.0% and diagnostic accuracy of 93.3%. Conclusion In pediatric patients, DWI is an innovative valuable noninvasive imaging technique for characterization of musculoskeletal soft tissue masses and discrimination between benign and malignant masses.