Usefulness of diffusion-weighted MRI with echo-planar technique in the evaluation of cellularity in gliomas

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with echo-planar imaging (EPI) technique in depicting the tumor cellularity and grading of gliomas, Twenty consecuti ve patients (13 men and 7 women, ranging in age from 13 to 69 years) with h istologically proven gliomas were examined using a 1.5 T superconducting im ager, Tumor cellularity, analyzed with National Institutes of Health Image 1.60 software on a Macintosh computer, was compared with the minimum appare nt diffusion coefficient (ADC) and the signal intensity on the Ta-weighted images. The relationship of the minimum ADC to the tumor grade was also eva luated. Tumor cellularity correlated well with the minimum ADC value of the gliomas (p = 0.007), but not with the signal intensity on the T2-weighted images, The minimum ADC of the high-grade gliomas was significantly higher than that of the low-grade gliomas, Diffusion-weighted MRI with EPI is a us eful technique for assessing the tumor cellularity and grading of gliomas, This information is not obtained with conventional MRI and is useful for th e diagnosis and characterization of gliomas, J. Magn. Reson, Imaging 1999;9 :53-60, (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.