Acta radiologica
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Background Reduced field of view (rFOV) imaging may be used to improve the quality of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the head and neck (HN) region. Purpose To evaluate the feasibility of rFOV-DWI in patients affected by HN tumors, through a comparison with conventional full FOV (fFOV) DWI. Material and Methods Twenty-two patients with histologically-proven malignant or benign tumors of the head and neck were included in a retrospective study. ⋯ The difference in SD of ADC was statistically significant in the lesions, indicating a higher ADC homogeneity for rFOV DWI ( P = 0.005). Conclusion The application of rFOV DWI in patients affected by HN tumors is feasible and promising, based on both qualitative and quantitative analyses. This technique has potential for improving the diagnostic accuracy of fFOV-DWI for the study of specific tumoral areas.