Utility Of apparent diffusion coefficients in the evaluation of solid renal tumors at 3T

Abstract

Purpose: We assessed the usefulness of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) for solid renal tumor imaging using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) at 3T. Methods: This retrospective study assessed ADCs of 31 patients with renal tumors that were imaged using preoperative DWI. DWI was performed with the b values of 50, 500, and 1000 s/mm2, using a 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (MAGNETOM Trio, 3T, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany). The ADC map was calculated using the b values of 50 and 1000 s/mm2. ADCs of the different tumors were compared according to the Tukey-Kramer test. Results: The tumors were diagnosed as clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC; n = 20), papillary RCC (n = 1), infiltrating urothelial carcinoma (UC) of the kidney (n = 4), cystic RCC (n = 1), poorly differentiated carcinoma (n = 1), and angiomyolipoma (AML; n = 4). The mean ADC of clear cell RCC was significantly higher than that of infiltrating UC of the kidney (1.423 vs. 0.931 × 10-3 mm2/s; P < 0.05), and the mean ADC of AML was significantly lower than that of clear cell RCC (0.674 vs. 1.423 × 10-3 mm2/s; P < 0.01). Conclusion: ADCs used in DWI at 3T may be useful for differentiation of different types of solid renal tumors. © 2014 Japanese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.