Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Assessing Parotid Gland Tumors: Correlation and Comparison with Arterial Spin Labeling Imaging

• Published in: Korean journal of radiology 2021, 22(2), , pp.243-252
• Main Authors: Ma, Gao, Xu, Xiao Quan, Zhu, Liu Ning, Jiang, Jia Suo, Su, Guo Yi, Hu, Hao, Bu, Shou Shan, Wu, Fei Yun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adenolymphoma - diagnosis; Adenolymphoma - diagnostic imaging; Adult; Aged; Area Under Curve; Cancer; Carcinoma, Acinar Cell - diagnosis; Carcinoma, Acinar Cell - diagnostic imaging; Contrast agents; Exocrine glands; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Metastasis; Middle Aged; Neuroimaging and Head & Neck; Parotid Gland - diagnostic imaging; Parotid Neoplasms - diagnosis; Parotid Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Radiation; Retrospective Studies; ROC Curve; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Spin Labels; Statistical analysis; Tumors; 방사선과학
• ISSN: 1229-6929; 2005-8330
• DOI: 10.3348/kjr.2020.0290

To compare and correlate the findings of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and arterial spin labeling (ASL) imaging in characterizing parotid gland tumors. We retrospectively reviewed 56 patients with parotid gland tumors evaluated by MR imaging. The true diffusion coefficient (D), pseudo-diffusion coefficient (D*), and fraction of perfusion (f) values of IVIM imaging and tumor-to-parotid gland signal intensity ratio (SIR) on ASL imaging were calculated. Spearman rank correlation coefficient, chi-squared, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis tests with the post-hoc Dunn-Bonferroni method and receiver operating characteristic curve assessments were used for statistical analysis. Malignant parotid gland tumors showed significantly lower D than benign tumors ( = 0.019). Within subgroup analyses, pleomorphic adenomas (PAs) showed significantly higher D than malignant tumors (MTs) and Warthin's tumors (WTs) ( < 0.001). The D* of WTs was significantly higher than that of PAs ( = 0.031). The f and SIR on ASL imaging of WTs were significantly higher than those of MTs and PAs ( < 0.05). Significantly positive correlation was found between SIR on ASL imaging and f ( = 0.446, = 0.001). In comparison with f, SIR on ASL imaging showed a higher area under curve (0.853 vs. 0.891) in discriminating MTs from WTs, although the difference was not significant ( = 0.720). IVIM and ASL imaging could help differentiate parotid gland tumors. SIR on ASL imaging showed a significantly positive correlation with f. ASL imaging might hold potential to improve the ability to discriminate MTs from WTs.