Magnetic resonance imaging: dynamic contrast enhancement and diffusion-weighted imaging to identify malignant cervical lymph nodes

Abstract Objective: To examine the potential of two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques-dynamic contrast enhancement (DCE) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)-for the detection of malignant cervical lymph nodes. Materials and Methods: Using DCE and DWI, we evaluated 33 cervical lymph nodes. For the DCE technique, the maximum relative enhancement, relative enhancement, time to peak enhancement, wash-in rate, wash-out rate, brevity of enhancement, and area under the curve were calculated from a semi-quantitative analysis. For the DWI technique, apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) were acquired in the region of interest of each lymph node. Cystic or necrotic parts were excluded. All patients underwent neck dissection or node biopsy. Imaging results were correlated with the histopathological findings. None of the patients underwent neoadjuvant treatment before neck dissection. Results: Relative enhancement, maximum relative enhancement, and the wash-in rate were significantly higher in malignant lymph nodes than in benign lymph nodes (p

摘要 研究目的：探讨两种磁共振成像（magnetic resonance imaging, MRI）技术——动态对比增强（dynamic contrast enhancement, DCE）与弥散加权成像（diffusion-weighted imaging, DWI）在颈部恶性淋巴结检测中的应用潜力。
材料与方法：本研究采用DCE与DWI技术，共评估33枚颈部淋巴结。针对DCE技术，通过半定量分析计算得到最大相对强化率、相对强化率、强化达峰时间、流入速率、流出速率、强化持续时长以及曲线下面积。针对DWI技术，在每枚淋巴结的感兴趣区（region of interest, ROI）内获取表观扩散系数（apparent diffusion coefficients, ADCs）。本研究排除淋巴结的囊性或坏死性区域。所有患者均接受颈部清扫术或淋巴结活检，将影像学结果与组织病理学结果进行相关性分析。所有患者在颈部清扫术前均未接受新辅助治疗。
结果：恶性淋巴结的相对强化率、最大相对强化率以及流入速率均显著高于良性淋巴结（p