Diagnostic performance of synthetic MRI in distinguishing between benign and malignant pathologies in the oral cavity and oropharynx regions

Motivation: Malignancies originating from the mucosa of the oral cavity and oropharynx are considered as one of the most prevalent types of malignancies. Goal(s): We intended to evaluate the diagnostic performance of MAGIC in distinguishing between benign and malignant pathologies in the oral cavity and oropharynx regions. Approach: This study enrolled 45 patients with malignancies and 19 patients with benign pathologies. The quantitative values were measured and histogram features were extracted from lesion regions. ROC curves were constructed to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency. Results: The quantitative mappings showed similar diagnostic performance as morphological images. The diagnostic efficacy was further improved with all images combined. Impact: Considering the routine diagnosis of malignancies mainly based on morphologic and contrast-enhanced images, the present study validated the clinical value of MAGIC to acquire both of the morphological and quantitative images during a single scan without contast.