Does diffusion-weighted imaging add diagnostic confidence in discriminating between benign and malignant solid focal liver lesions?

Abstract

We investigated whether diffusion-weighted Imaging (DWI) adds diagnostic confidence in assessing focal liver lesions (FLLs). By reviewing FLLs without and with DWI at 1.5 T, two radiologists scored the confidence in diagnosing benignancy/malignancy (confidence score), and DWI usefulness (usefulness score). We showed that adding DWI significantly decreased the confidence score of the most experienced radiologist and increased his confidence in false-negative diagnoses showing atypical features on conventional magnetic resonance imaging.

Keywords: Apparent diffusion coefficient; Clinical decision making; Diagnostic confidence; Diffusion-weighted imaging; Focal liver lesions.