Evaluation of pituitary structures and lesions with turbo spin-echo diffusion-weighted imaging

• Published in: Journal of the neurological sciences 2019-10, Vol.405, p.116390-116390, Article 116390
• Main Authors: Khant, Zaw Aung, Azuma, Minako, Kadota, Yoshihito, Hattori, Youhei, Takeshima, Hideo, Yokogami, Kiyotaka, Watanabe, Takashi, Enzaki, Masahiro, Nakaura, Takeshi, Hirai, Toshinori
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Echo-planar diffusion-weighted imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Neurology; Pituitary; Pituitary adenoma; Turbo spin-echo diffusion-weighted imaging
• ISSN: 0022-510X; 1878-5883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2019.07.008

AbstractBackground and purposeTurbo spin-echo diffusion-weighted imaging (TSE-DWI) has not been used for evaluating pituitary lesions. We compared the usefulness of TSE-DWI and echo-planar (EP)-DWI for assessing normal pituitary structures and lesions. Materials and methodsOur study included 41 consecutive patients (27 pituitary adenomas, 8 Rathke's cleft cysts, 4 craniopharyngiomas, 1 germinoma, 1 pituitary metastasis) who underwent conventional pre- and post-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and TSE- and EP-DWI at 3T. Two observers independently performed qualitative assessment of normal pituitary structures and lesions on sagittal DWI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps. One observer recorded ADC values of normal brain structures and pituitary lesions. Kappa (κ) statistics, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, intraclass correlation coefficient, Bland-Altman analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient and independent t-test were used for statistical analysis. ResultsInterobserver agreement for qualitative evaluations was good to excellent (κ = 0.65–1.0). On both DWI and ADC maps, visualization of the pituitary gland, of the spatial relationship between the lesion and its normal surroundings, and the whole image quality were significantly better on TSE- than EP sequences (p