Histogram analysis based on apparent diffusion coefficient maps in differential diagnosis of nasopharyngeal non-Hodgkin lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of the histogram analysis derived from apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps in the differential diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and nasopharyngeal lymphoma (NPL).Compared with conventional MRI, histogram analysis parameters particularly for 90%ADC and 99%ADC can be used to show the distribution of different intensity signals in the tumor, extract the heterogeneity characteristics of the tumor, understand the tissue density and metabolism inside the lesion, and calculate all the voxels of the whole tumor volume. The results of histogram analysis are more objective, and have a certain advantage compared with the traditional ADC average measurement.