The additive role of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to axillary nodal status evaluation in cases of newly diagnosed breast cancer

Abstract Background Axillary nodal status is crucial for the management of cases with recently diagnosed breast cancer; usually addressed via axillary ultrasonography (US) along tissue sampling in case suspicion. dissection and sentinel biopsy may be done, but are rather invasive, carrying a potential complication risk, which raises need non-invasive, reliable, pre-operative imaging. We aimed at evaluating performance diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) regarding preoperative evaluation, using functional information derived from diffusion capacity differences between benign malignant tissue. included 77 nodes patients (age range 20–78 years, mean 50 ± 12.6 SD) our prospective study, presenting variable clinical complaints, all scoring BIRADS 4/5 on sonomammography (SM). They underwent evaluation by both US DW-MRI where classified into benign, indeterminate, or size, shape, cortical thickness, hilar fat. Qualitative DWI them either restricted not cut-off apparent coefficient (ADC) value was calculated to differentiate involvement. Results each modality were correlated those final histopathology, served as standard reference. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV, NPV 100%, 36.6%, 75.3%, 71.2%, respectively. Statistical indices qualitative 76.6%, 63.3%, 71.4%, respectively ( P < 0.001). cut off ADC infiltrated non-infiltrated 0.95 × 10 −3 mm 2 /s concluding statistical Conclusion Combining conventional improves diagnostic specificity overall accuracy discovered cancer.