• Ahmed Abdel Razek, Ahmed Elmorsy, Mohsen Elshafey, Tamer Elhadedy, and Osama Hamza.
• Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Mansoura Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura, Egypt. arazek@mans.eun.eg
• J Magn Reson Imaging. 2009 Sep 1; 30 (3): 535-40.

PurposeTo assess the role of diffusion-weighted single-shot echo-planar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with mediastinal tumors.MethodsProspective study was conducted on 45 consecutive patients (29 male, 16 female, age 22-66 years, mean 41 years) with mediastinal tumor. They underwent diffusion-weighted single-shot echo-planar MRI of the mediastinum with a b-factor of 0, 300, and 600 sec/mm(2). The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value of the mediastinal tumor was correlated with the histopathological findings.ResultsThe mean ADC value of malignant mediastinal tumors was 1.09 +/- 0.25 x 10(-3) mm(2)/sec, and of benign tumors was 2.38 +/- 0.56 x 10(-3) mm(2)/sec. There was a significant difference in the mean ADC value between malignant and benign tumors (P = 0.001) and within different grades of malignancy (0.001). When an ADC value of 1.56 x 10(-3) mm(2)/sec was used as a threshold value for differentiating malignant from benign tumor, the best results were obtained with an accuracy of 95%, sensitivity of 96%, specificity of 94%, positive predictive value of 94%, negative predictive value of 96%, and area under the curve of 0.938.ConclusionThe ADC value is a noninvasive parameter that can be used for differentiation of malignant from benign mediastinal tumors and grading of mediastinal malignancy.

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