Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of gallbladder adenocarcinoma: analysis with emphasis on histologic grade

PurposeTo investigate the value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for differentiating gallbladder adenocarcinoma from adenoma, and predicting histologic grades of gallbladder adenocarcinoma.Materials and methodsFourty-three gallbladder adenocarcinomas and 8 adenomas were included. We compared apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values between adenocarcinoma and adenoma, and ADC values of gallbladder adenocarcinoma among the histologic grade.ResultsGallbladder adenocarcinoma (1.041 × 10− 3 mm2/s) showed significantly lower ADC values than adenoma (2.039 × 10− 3 mm2/s) (P < .001). Well-differentiated adenocarcinoma (1.290 × 10− 3 mm2/s) showed significantly higher ADC values than higher-grades (1.104 × 10− 3 and 0.915 × 10− 3 mm2/s in moderately- and poorly-differentiated, respectively) (P < .001).ConclusionDWI can help to differentiate gallbladder adenocarcinoma from adenoma, and well-differentiated from higher-grade adenocarcinoma.