Comparative Analysis Of Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging,diffusion Tensor Imaging And Conventional Diffusion Weighted Imaging In Differentiating Benign And Non-benign Meningioma

Purpose: To compare the efficiency of MR diffusion kurtosis imaging(DKI),diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)and conventional diffusion weighted imaging(DWI)in differentiating benign(Grade I)from nonbenign(Grade II)meningiomas.Method: 72 patients with histopathologically confirmed meningioma were retrospectively included for this study.Diffusion parameters mean kurtosis(MK),radial kurtosis(KR),axial kurtosis(KA),fractional anisotropy(FA)mean diffusivity(MD),and apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)values with and without normalization by contralateral normal-appearing white matter(NAWM)in the solid part of the tumor were compared using the two-sample(independent)ttest.Most efficient parameter was tested using the Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves.Result: The normalized DKI values(MK 0.013,KR 0.015,and KA 0.014)were significant in differentiating benign from non-benign meningiomas whereas other diffusion parameters including MD,FA and ADC did not show significant results in differentiating the two groups of meningiomas.The non-normalized DKI values were not significant either.The areas under curve(AUC)of normalized KA(0.711),MK(0.692),and KR(0.674)values were also shown to be significant for the study.Conclusion: DKI values were shown to be more efficient in differentiating benign from non-benign meningiomas,suggesting their alteration in microstructural integrity,more significantly than other diffusion parameters.