Diagnosis of hilar cholangiocarcinoma using intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging

Objective To investigate the value of intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighed magnetic resonance imaging (IVIM-DWI) in discriminating the pathological grades of hilar cholangiocarcinoma (HC). Patients and methods Thirty-seven HC patients were enrolled and received routine and advanced DWI scanning with multiple b-values. IVIM-DWI images were obtained using echo-planar imaging sequence. Results The consistency of the maximum cross-sectional area ROI measuring method was higher than that of the repeated sampling ROI measuring method. ADC(slow) values were closely correlated with the pathological grades of HC. The degrees of biliary dilatation and MELD scores had no influence on the negative correlation between ADC(slow) values and the pathological degrees of HC patients. Conclusions ADC(slow) values could be applied in indicating the pathological grades of HC, which was independent on the extent of biliary dilatation.