The Relationship Between Short and Long Diffusion Time ADC Values in Rat Brain Tumors

Alexander D. Cohen¹, Peter S. LaViolette², Kathleen M. Schmainda, ¹²

Advanced imaging techniques, such as diffusion weighted imaging, have been developed to detect brain tumor progression and invasion. Biological systems are heterogeneous and contain physical boundaries that can hinder the motion of water molecules and lead to an underestimation of a materials true diffusion coefficient when the diffusion time is large. This study looks at the relationship between short and long diffusion time apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in a rat brain cancer model. The ADC difference between short and long diffusion time scans was significantly higher in tumor vs. normal cortex and correlated with the intravoxel heterogeneity index.