Evaluation of the efficacy of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and apparent diffusion coefficients in the diagnosis of maxillary diseases

Abstract

Objective: We investigated the efficacy of using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with quantitative apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) mapping in the diagnosis of maxillary diseases.

Study design: We evaluated 146 cases of maxillary diseases (32 malignant tumors, 11 benign tumors, 28 maxillary cysts, 60 cases of maxillary sinusitis, and 15 maxillary sinus retention cysts) that had been examined using magnetic resonance imaging. The DWI sequence was obtained with b values of 0 and 800 s/mm² and ADC values were calculated. We used one-way analysis of variance and the Tukey honestly significant difference test to identify differences within and between the types of diseases.

Results: Mean ADC values for malignant tumors (1.07 × 10^-3 mm² s^-1) were significantly lower than ADCs for benign tumors (1.85 × 10^-3 mm² s^-1), maxillary cysts (1.77 × 10^-3 mm² s^-1), maxillary sinusitis (2.34 × 10^-3 mm² s^-1), and maxillary sinus retention cysts (2.52 × 10^-3 mm² s^-1), with P < 0.001. Mean ADC differed significantly between all disease types except between maxillary sinusitis and maxillary sinus retention cysts. ADC values also significantly differed between specific lesions within the malignant tumor and maxillary cyst groups.

Conclusions: The use of ADC values can be useful in the differential diagnosis of malignant maxillary diseases, benign lesions, cysts, and inflammatory and reactive conditions.