Role of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in differentiating between benign and malignant breast lesions

ObjectiveTo assess the role of DWI and ADC in differentiating between benign and malignant breast lesions.Materials and methods51 patients (age range 24–66 years; mean age 48 years) were included in our study. MRI was done using bilateral fat-suppressed T2- weighted fast spin-echo, STIR, axial T1-weighted fast spin-echo. DWI series were acquired using echo planar imaging pulse sequences incorporated with diffusion gradients and finally dynamic contrast enhancement study was done.ResultsSixty three lesions were detected in 51 patients included in our study. Twenty one lesions were malignant, three lesions were intermediate and twenty two lesions were fibroadenoma according to the final histopathological study and seventeen lesions were breast cysts. A total of 21 lesions showed lower ADC values than benign lesions and were in the range of 0.76–1.29 × 10−3 mm2/s and were diagnosed as malignant breast lesions. The sensitivity and specificity for DWI in the differentiating malignant from benign breast lesions were calculated and showed 95.4% and 97.5%, respectively.ConclusionDWI is easy to obtain in short scan time and easy to evaluate, and ADC values can differentiate between benign and malignant breast lesions with high sensitivity and specificity.