Preoperative Prediction of of Thymic Epithelial Tumors by Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging

Overview

The aim of this study is to analyze aquaporins expression of thymic epithelial tumors and to compare them with apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC) from ultra-high b-values, and to test a possibility of use of ADCuh to identify the pathological type of tumor.

Magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) measures water diffusion in biological tissue. The quantification of diffusion is described by the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC),which largely depends on the number and separation of barriers.Thus, ADC can provide information regarding tissue microstructure. According to the literature, ADC is also related to cell membrane permeability for water molecules.It is well known that cellular water transport depends on aquaporins (AQPs).In general,the expression of aquaporins might differ in several pathologic disorders. With reference to this fact,we hypothesize that AQPs expression may influence ADC in thymic epithelial tumors(TETs).Therefore,the aim of the present study is to analyze possible associations between ADC from ultra-high b-values and AQPs expression(ADCuh) in TETs and to use ADCuh to identify the pathological type of tumor.

Conditions

Eligibility

Outcomes