Salivary glands and lesions: Evaluation of apparent diffusion coefficientswith split-echo diffusion-weighted MR imaging - Initial results

The authors investigated the feasibility of performing diffusion-weighted ( DW) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with split acquisition of fast spin-ech o signals (hereafter, split echo) for the assessment of salivary glands and salivary lesions. Eighteen patients without salivary disease and 10 patien ts with Sjogren syndrome, chronic parotitis, or focal salivary masses under went split-echo and echo-planar DW MR imaging. DW MR images and apparent di ffusion coefficient maps of the salivary gland had higher quality with spli t-echo rather than with echo-planar DW MR imaging.