High-b value diffusion-weighted MRI for detecting pancreatic adenocarcinoma: preliminary results

Abstract

Objective: The objective of our study was to evaluate the usefulness of high-b value diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) in the detection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Subjects and methods: Twenty-six patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma were included in the study. Twenty-three other patients who were being followed up due to pancreatic diseases other than adenocarcinoma were included as control subjects. All patients and subjects underwent DWI, and the images were evaluated by three blinded radiologists.

Results: Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis yielded A(z) values (i.e., area under the ROC curve) of 0.998, 0.998, and 0.995 for the three radiologists. The mean sensitivity and specificity for the detection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma were 96.2% and 98.6%, respectively. The kappa values indicating interobserver agreement between different pairs of radiologists were in the category of excellent.

Conclusion: High-b value DWI allows the detection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma with a high sensitivity and specificity.