Diagnostic performance of apparent diffusion coefficient and quantitative kinetic parameters for predicting additional malignancy in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer

PurposeTo evaluate the diagnostic performance of an apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and quantitative kinetic parameters in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer.Materials and MethodsWe enrolled 169 lesions in 89 patients with breast cancer who underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Comparisons between benign and malignant lesions were performed for lesion type (mass or nonmass-like enhancement), size (≥ 1 cm or < 1 cm), ADC, kinetic parameters and the presence of a US correlate.ResultsThere were 63 benign and 106 malignant lesions. The mean size and initial peak enhancement of the benign lesions were significantly lower than those of malignant lesions (P < 0.001 for both). The ADC of the benign lesions was significantly higher than that of malignant lesions (1.42 × 10− 3 mm2/sec vs. 1.04 × 10− 3 mm2/sec; P < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for predicting malignancy was 0.87 for the combined parameters of size, ADC, and initial peak enhancement, which was higher than those of each parameter.ConclusionsCombination of quantitative kinetic parameters and ADC showed higher diagnostic performance for predicting malignancy than each parameter alone for the evaluation of patients with breast cancer.