The Role of Diffusion Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Differentiation of Breast Lesions

Background: Breast cancer today represents one in eight cancer diagnoses and a total of 2.3 million new cases in both genders. Aim: To assess the effectiveness of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) value to differentiate malignant from benign breast lesions in cases.Patients and methods: This observational descriptive research was performed on twenty female cases with different breast lesions was subjected to breast dynamic contrast-enhanced breast MRI (DCE-MRI) with histopathological analysis and diffusion following breast core biopsy for selected cases in the radiology department at Al Zahraa Hospital from March 2023 to December 2023.Results: ROC curve analysis proved good discriminating power of the ADC Value (× 10^3 mm2/s) among malignant and benign where Area under the ROC curve (AUC)= 0.896 with SE 0.0778 (95% Confidence interval 0.75–0.98. Z statistic=4.281, p<0.001. Cutoff point <1.21 with sensitivity= 83.3%, specificity= 92.1%, Negative predictive value 91.5%, Positive predictive value 83.3%. A statistically significant higher mean ADC value (× 10^3 mm2/s) in the benign group was 1.43±0.29 compared to the malignant group, which was 1.01±0.27, with a p-value (p=0.004).Conclusion: DW MRI is an unenhanced and quick procedure that has the potential to be used in breast cancer screening and the monitoring of the breast cancer response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and may be utilized in the accurate differential diagnosis of breast lesions observed in dynamic contrast-enhanced breast MRI.