European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Role of diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging in evaluation and differentiation of inflammatory and neoplastic brain lesions.
Material and methods: This was a prospective study conducted in the Department of Radiodiagnosis, Index Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Indore, Madhya Pradesh. 50 patients with acute focal neurological deficit and manifestations suggestive of brain lesions which could be neoplastic or inflammatory in nature were included in this study. Data was collected using pre-structured proforma which included details such as name, age, gender, presenting complaints and findings were noted for MRI and DWI imaging.
Results: In our study, sensitivity, specificity of DWI was found to be 47.6% and 50% respectively. The accuracy for DWI for correctly diagnosing benign or malignant lesions on the basis of cut-off value of ADC was found to be 40% with 95% confidence interval of 27.61% to 53.82%. However, diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) was not able to differentiate between inflammatory (benign) and malignant lesions conclusively.
Conclusion: It can be concluded from our study that diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) along with its apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values was not able to conclusively differentiate between benign (inflammatory) and malignant (neoplastic) lesions of the brain and further imaging studies such as MR spectroscopy, MR perfusion study etc. can be used to further evaluate lesions and differentiate between them.