Data from: Characterization of breast tumors using diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI)

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate and evaluate the role of
magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in characterizing
breast lesions. Materials and Methods: One hundred and twenty-four lesions
in 103 patients (mean age: 57±14 years) were evaluated by MR DKI performed
with 7 b-values of 0, 250, 500, 750, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 s/mm2 and dynamic
contrast-enhanced (DCE) MR imaging. Breast lesions were histologically
characterized and DKI related parameters—mean diffusivity (MD) and mean
kurtosis (MK)—were measured. The MD and MK in normal fibroglandular breast
tissue, benign and malignant lesions were compared by One-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) with Tukey's multiple comparison test. Receiver
operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to assess the
sensitivity and specificity of MD and MK in the diagnosis of breast
lesions. Results: The benign lesions (n = 42) and malignant lesions (n =
82) had mean diameters of 11.4±3.4 mm and 35.8±20.1 mm, respectively. The
MK for malignant lesions (0.88±0.17) was significantly higher than that
for benign lesions (0.47±0.14) (P<0.001), and, in contrast, MD for
benign lesions (1.97±0.35 (10−3 mm2/s)) was higher than that for malignant
lesions (1.20±0.31 (10−3 mm2/s)) (P<0.001). At a cutoff MD/MK 1.58
(10−3 mm2/s)/0.69, sensitivity and specificity of MD/MK for the diagnosis
of malignant were 79.3%/84.2% and 92.9%/92.9%, respectively. The area
under the curve (AUC) is 0.86/0.92 for MD/MK. Conclusions: DKI could
provide valuable information on the diffusion properties related to tumor
microenvironment and increase diagnostic confidence of breast tumors.