April M. Chow1, Victor Ai2, Polly SY Cheung3, Siu Ki Yu1, Gladys G. Lo2
1Medical Physics & Research Department, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Happy Valley, Hong Kong SAR, China; 2Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Happy Valley, Hong Kong SAR, China; 3Breast Care Center, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Happy Valley, Hong Kong SAR, China
Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) characterizes the random microscopic motion of molecules and enables assessment of tissue microstructure. This technique has been widely used to characterize malignant and benign breast lesions. A number of studies have been reported to optimize b-value for improving the detection of changes in pathologies in various organs. However, study on effect of b-value on DWI quantitation in detecting malignant breast lesion has been limited. In this study, the effect of b-value on the absolute quantitation of ADC and their diagnostic performance in detecting malignant breast lesions was investigated at 3 T. The results showed that the apparent diffusivities generally decreased with b-value in both malignant breast lesions and normal fibroglandular tissue. The diagnostic accuracy of ADC in detecting malignant breast lesions increased with b-value.