Non-Gaussian diffusion imaging for malignant and benign pulmonary nodule differentiation: a preliminary study

Abstract

The initial results of this study indicate the feasibility of DKI in human lungs. However, there was no significant benefit of DKI derived MK values over ADC for malignant and benign pulmonary nodule differentiation.

Diffusion kurtosis imaging for differentiating borderline from malignant epithelial ovarian tumors: A correlation with Ki‐67 expression

“…ROC curve analysis showed that the K, D, and ADC values had excellent diagnostic performances in differentiating BEOTs from MEOTs, and although no significant superiority over the ADC value was found, a combination of ADC value with K value may reduce the rate of misdiagnosis. Our results were consistent with those studies by Roethke et al, Das et al, and Tamura et al, but they were inconsistent with those of studies by Jiang et al and Sun et al This is because the standard DWI has the ability to differentiate BEOTs from MEOTs. The loose papillae, branching structure, and dense tiny cysts in BEOTs lead to a relatively easy diffusion of water molecules and therefore a higher ADC value .…”

“…A recently developed technique, DKI can show the physiological characteristics with respect to tumor complexity or tissue microstructure . Previous studies have reported the use of diffusion kurtosis for lesions at other sites . Compared with standard DWI, which presupposes Gaussian diffusion behavior, DKI can theoretically provide more microstructural information.…”

Diffusion kurtosis MRI versus conventional diffusion‐weighted imaging for evaluating inflammatory activity in Crohn's disease

“…The use of DKI to probe the non‐Gaussian behavior of water diffusion in solid organs has been reported in several studies . In the present study, D app and ADC values decreased, whereas K app increased with increasing activity of CD.…”

Diffusional kurtosis imaging in head and neck cancer: On the use of trace‐weighted images to estimate indices of non‐Gaussian water diffusion

“…Diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) is a non‐Gaussian technique with the potential to improve the diagnostic capability of diffusion‐MRI . DKI has been shown to be useful in the study of various disease‐related alterations of the brain, and to have oncological applications in several extra‐cranial regions, such as the head and neck (HN), prostate, breast, and rectum . DKI is based on a mathematical model of diffusion that does not require biophysical priors.…”

“…When applying DKI to study the brain and highly anisotropic white matter in particular, it is customary to simultaneously estimate the rank‐4 (symmetrical) kurtosis tensor and rank‐2 (symmetrical) diffusion tensor by fitting the DKI model to a diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) dataset, with several (>15) diffusion weighting directions and at least two non‐null b‐values . Notably, given the practical need for minimal scan time in most routine MRI acquisitions of body regions (in order to contain effects of bulk motion, magnetic susceptibility, and inhomogeneity), this rigorous approach (full DKI acquisition) has been applied in only a few DKI studies . On the other hand, given the supposed almost isotropic water diffusion in tumoral lesions, DWI with only three diffusion weighting directions (i.e., the main orthogonal directions x, y, and z) is currently considered sufficient for oncological applications .…”