فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based on measuring the random Brownian motion of water molecules within the biological tissues and is particularly useful in tumor characterization. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of DW MRI and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) for preoperative grading of astrocytic supratentorial brain tumors. Results: According to the pathology reports, 10 patients had low-grade astrocytomas (grades I, II) and 13 patients had high-grade astrocytomas (grades III, IV). The minimum ADC value showed a significantly inverse correlation with astrocytic tumor grade (P = 0.006). The correlation between the maximum ADC value and the maximum DWI signal intensity with tumor grade was direct (P = 0.013, P = 0.035). According to the ROC analysis, the cutoff values of 0.843 × 10 -3 mm 2 /s, 2.117 × 10 -3 mm 2 /s and 165.2 for the minimum ADC, maximum ADC and maximum DWI respectively, obtained the best combination of sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing low-grade and high-grade astrocytomas. Conclusion: Measuring minimum ADC, maximum ADC and maximum DWI signal intensity can provide valuable information for grading of astrocytic supratentorial brain tumors before surgery.