Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) v2018: differential diagnostic value of ADC values for benign and malignant nodules with moderate probability (LR-3)

Xue Chen; Quanyu Cai; Jinju Xia; Huan Huang; Zhaoxing Li; Kairong Song; Ningyang Jia; Wanmin Liu

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1186290

Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) v2018: differential diagnostic value of ADC values for benign and malignant nodules with moderate probability (LR-3)

Front Oncol. 2023 Aug 22:13:1186290. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1186290. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xue Chen¹, Quanyu Cai¹, Jinju Xia¹, Huan Huang¹, Zhaoxing Li¹, Kairong Song¹, Ningyang Jia¹, Wanmin Liu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in differentiating between benign and malignant LR-3 lesions classified by Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System 2018 (LI-RADS v2018).

Methods: Retrospectively analyzed 88 patients with liver nodules confirmed by pathology and classified as LR-3 by LI-RADS. All patients underwent preoperative contrast-enhanced MR examination, and the following patient-related imaging features were collected: tumor size,nonrim APHE, nonperipheral "washout", enhancing "capsule", mild-moderate T2 hyperintensity, fat in mass, restricted diffusion, and nodule-in-nodule architecture. We performed ROC analysis and calculated the sensitivity and specificity.

Results: A total of 122 lesions were found in 88 patients, with 68 benign and 54 malignant lesions. The mean ADC value for malignant and benign lesions were 1.01 ± 0.15 × 10³ mm²/s and 1.41 ± 0.31 × 10³ mm²/s, respectively. The ADC value of malignant lesions was significantly lower than that of benign lesions, p < 0.0001. Compared with other imaging features, ADC values had the highest AUC (AUC = 0.909), with a sensitivity of 92.6% and a specificity of 74.1% for the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions.

Conclusions: ADC values are useful for differentiating between benign and malignant liver nodules in LR-3 classification, it improves the sensitivity of LI-RADS in the diagnosis of HCC while maintaining high specificity, and we recommend including ADC values in the standard interpretation of LI-RADSv2018.

Keywords: LR-3; MRI; apparent diffusion coefficient; liver cancer; liver imaging reporting and data system.