Diagnostic efficiency of intravoxel incoherent motion-based virtual magnetic resonance elastography in pulmonary neoplasms

Abstract Background The aim of the study were as below. (1) To investigate the feasibility of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM)-based virtual magnetic resonance elastography (vMRE) to provide quantitative estimates of tissue stiffness in pulmonary neoplasms. (2) To verify the diagnostic performance of shifted apparent diffusion coefficient (sADC) and reconstructed virtual stiffness values in distinguishing neoplasm nature. Methods This study enrolled 59 patients (37 males, 22 females) with one pulmonary neoplasm who underwent computed tomography-guided percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB) with pathological diagnosis (26 adenocarcinoma, 10 squamous cell carcinoma, 3 small cell carcinoma, 4 tuberculosis and 16 non-specific benign; mean age, 60.81 ± 9.80 years). IVIM was performed on a 3 T magnetic resonance imaging scanner before biopsy. sADC and virtual shear stiffness maps reflecting lesion stiffness were reconstructed. sADC and virtual stiffness values of neoplasm were extracted, and the diagnostic performance of vMRE in distinguishing benign and malignant and detailed pathological type were explored. Results Compared to benign neoplasms, malignant ones had a significantly lower sADC and a higher virtual stiffness value (P