Abstract:

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is a functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that explores the random motion of water molecules in the body. Although DWI has been widely applied in the evaluation of intracranial disorders, there is growing interest for its use in detection and characterization of abdominal masses. In this study, the efficiency of DWI in distinguishing benign adrenal focal lesions from malignant ones is investigated. Material and Methods: Sixty six adrenal focal lesions in 56 patients were included in the study. The lesions were characterized with dynamic adrenal computed tomography and/or adrenal MRI if there was not a histopathological result or radiological follow up. DWI was performed for these lesions and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were measured by using three different b values (b=500 sec/mm2, b=750 sec/mm2, b=1000 sec/mm2). Results: The average ADC values of 39 benign lesions were 1.54 x 10-3 mm2/sec for b=500 sec/mm2, 1.01x 10-3 mm2/sec for b=750 sec/mm2 and 0.77 x 10-3 mm2/sec for b=1000 sec/mm2. The average ADC values of 27 malignant lesions were found to be 1.69x 10-3 mm2/sec, 1.14 x 10-3 mm2/sec and 0.86 x 10-3 mm2/sec for b=500 sec/mm2, b=750 sec/mm2, b=1000 sec/mm2, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between ADC values of benign and malignant lesions for all three b values (p)

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