Wei Tang1, Yao Huang1, Ning Wu1, Wenwen Lu1, Linlin Qi1, and Bing Wu2
1Diagnostic Radiology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China, People's Republic of, 2GE heathcare MR research China, Beijing, China, People's Republic of
Magnetic resonance
(MR) elastography depitcs the elastic
properties of tissues of interest has been primarily applied in the work-up of
diagnosis for hepatic fibrosis. Theoretically, interference fringes could be visualized on the elastogram due to the
miscalculation of the interaction between the attenuated propagations of shear
wave and the tissue overlying or surrounding to the investigated subject, which
might be one of the main concern that limited the clinical potentials of MRE.
We propose an investigation on the feasibility of MR elastography in
characterizing the mechanical properties of
anterior mediastinal masses with the consideration of the relatively
superficial location of these entities, therefore few interactions between the
shear wave and subject unexpected were produced during the process of
elasticity mapping. It was demonstrated in our study that anterior mediastinal
mass in various etiology of thymic carcinoma, thymoma, and lymphoma has
distinct elastic properties. MR elastography
was helpful in distinguishing the thymic carcinoma from lymphoma.
