Diffusion Weighted Imaging to differentiate human papillomavirus positive from human papilloma virus negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: how do b-values influence results?

This study investigates whether and how the choice of b-values influences ADC ability to differentiate between human papillomavirus (HPV) positive (HPV+) from HPV negative (HPV-) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) using quantitative histogram parameters of tumor ADC maps obtained with different combinations of b-values and with monoexponential and bi-exponential models (IVIM). Results show that ADC calculated with 2 b-values, b0 and b1000, are sufficient and that ADC calculated only with high b-values (combination excluding b0) are not able to differentiate both tumor types.