Diffusion-Weighted (DW) Imaging in Ovarian Cystic Lesions: Value of DW Imaging Compared to T2-Weighted Imaging at 3T MRI

Tomohiro Namimoto¹, Kazuo Awai¹, Takeshi Nakaura¹, Yumi Yanaga¹, Shinichi Nakamura¹, Tetsuo Saito², Toshinori Hirai¹, Yasuyuki Yamashita¹

The purpose of our study is to determine the usefulness of diffusion weighted (DW) imaging in the characterization of ovarian cystic masses and to clarify the relationship between the signal intensity in T2-weighted imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values at 3T MRI. Our study showed ADC values of endometrial cysts and mature cystic teratomas were significantly lower than those of other cystic lesions. However, the usefulness of the ADC values for differentiating benign from malignant cystic ovarian lesions was limited due to an influence from signal intensity of T2-weighted images with fat suppression.