Efficacy of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of middle ear cholesteatoma

Since DWI clearly showed high specificity and positive predictive value, it is useful for diagnosing middle ear cholesteatoma, including postoperative recurrent cholesteatoma of 5 mm diameter or larger. DWI could sufficiently detect cholesteatoma with one or both negative results on otoscopic and CT examinations, but it was difficult to detect cholesteatoma of less than 5 mm diameter using DWI owing to the tiny mass and small volume of debris.