The Value Of Diffusion Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging In The Identification Of Cervical Lymphadenopathy

Purpose To investigate the value of diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging(DWI)in the differentiation of cervical lymphade-nopathy.Materials and methods Ninty-two patients with cervical lymphadenopathy from 2010 to 2013 were selected,which were all confirmed by pathology.Twenty-six normal person were selected for the control group.A total of 175cervical lymph nodes were divided into 5 experimental groups according to their pathology:117 metastatic lymph nodes from 74 patients with malignant tumors;39 lymphoma lymph nodes from 8 patients;13 tuberculosis lymph nodes from 5 patients;5 inflammatory lymph nodes from 4 patients;and 1lymph node from a patient with eosinophilic lymphogranuloma.The control group includes 35 normal lymph nodes.In all,156 malignant lymph nodes and 19 benign lymph nodes were included.The ADC values of the overall lymph nodes as well as the substantial of them,were measured respectively with b value of 1000s/mm~2.To reduce measurement bias,the ADC values were measured 3 times and then averaged.After calculating the average ADC values of the above 5 diseased groups and normal lymph nodes,malignant and benign lymph nodes,the statistical differences between the ADC values of these lymph nodes were compared.Results When measuring the total lymph nodes in the first experiment,the ADC values were statistically significant between lymphoma lymph nodes and metastatic,normal lymph nodes,but no significant differences among the other groups were found.When measuring the substantial parts of lymph nodes in the second experiment,the ADC values of lymphoma lymph nodes had significant statistical differences with other groups,except for the kimura disease lymph node.However,no significant statistical differences were found among the ADC values of metastatic,tubercular,inflammatory and normal lymph nodes.The differences of ADC values between malignant and normal lymph nodes were significant,while the ADC values between malignant and benign lymph nodes had no significant differences.Conclusions The ADC values play an important role in the identification of cervical lymphadenopathy,especially for the identification of cervical lymphoma.