8th Baltic Congress of Radiology

08.10.2022  Tallinn, Estonia

Presentation

Small Hall

Synopsis: MR diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) may provide important information regarding the pathophysiology of parenchymal abdominal organs. However, diffusion measurements may also be affected by intravoxel incoherent fluid movements. A model taking into account these effects, called intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) . Another model - DKI - provides complementary information on the microstructural complexity of the tissue by evaluating the non-Gaussian behaviour of water motion. Our study began a few years ago in Zurich, when first we tried to compare different diffusion models and how various external factors are affecting them. First of all, we aimed to investigate whether diffusion markers derived from different diffusion models are sensitive to the hydration state, based on measurements in abdominal organs of healthy volunteers. The results of our study imply that the tissue hydration does not affect the robustness of the estimation of diffusion-related parameters in the kidneys. Although no change in diffusion values was found for the renal parenchyma, significant changes were observed in the liver, spleen and the skeletal muscle after the water challenge, which should be considered when diffusion values are compared between subjects with unknown hydration state. Subsequently the second step of our study is to find whether advanced diffusion imaging is a reliable tool for prostate cancer detection. Perfusion fraction is a heterogeneous quantity that varies widely in both normal and cancerous tissue, it is hypothesized that a voxel-wise analysis with sufficient signal-to-noise is required to determine its precise role in distinguishing prostate cancer. However, there are a few potential disadvantages of this advanced diffusion model used in clinical practice.

This agenda item is presented in the following session: S5-2 Prostata Imaging

Plenary session

08.10.2022 09:00 - 10:30