Purpose: To assess the value of histogram analysis for differentiating a high-risk thymic epithelial tumor (TET) from a low-risk TET using T2-weighted images and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC).
Methods: Forty-nine patients with histopathologically proven TET after thymectomy were enrolled in this study and retrospectively classified as having low-risk TET (low-risk thymoma) or high-risk TET (high-risk thymoma or thymic carcinoma). Twelve parameters were obtained from the quantitative histogram analysis. The histogram parameters were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. Diagnostic efficacy was estimated by receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis.
Results: Twenty-five patients were classified as having low-risk TET and 24 as having high-risk TET. The mean ADC value showed diagnostic efficacy for differentiating high-risk TET from low-risk TET, with an area under the curve of 0.7, and was better than when using conventional methods alone.
Conclusion: The ADC-based histogram analysis could help to differentiate between high-risk and low-risk TETs.
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