Diffusion weighted imaging: Lymph nodes

DWI has proven to be a reliable and accurate imaging tool for evaluating and characterizing metastatic lymph nodes. Based on the concept of restricted diffusion in malignancy quantitative evaluation of the tissue diffusivity provides an objective parameter for detecting and staging lymph node involvement. Improvement in the hardware and software sector allows assessment of lymph nodes in many anatomical regions. The introduction of DW-volume scans and whole body diffusion scans enables the radiologist to provide tumor staging and therapy monitoring of the whole body without using contrast material or ionizing radiation. Limitation to DWI occurs if there is a contraindication for MRI, motion- and susceptibility artifacts corrupt image quality and no quantitative diffusion analysis is possible. © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.