Inter- and intraobserver agreement of ADC measurements of lung cancer in free breathing, breath-hold and respiratory triggered diffusion-weighted MRI

Abstract

Objective: To prospectively evaluate the inter- and intraobserver agreement of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements in free breathing, breath-hold, and respiratory triggered diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of lung cancer.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with lung cancer (tumor size >2cm) underwent DWIs (3.0T) in three imaging methods. Lesion ADCs were measured twice by both of the two independent observers and compared.

Results: No statistical significance was found among methods, though respiratory-triggered DWI tended to have higher ADCs than breath-hold DWI. Great inter- and intraobserver agreement was shown.

Conclusion: ADCs had good inter- and intraobserver agreement in all three DWI methods.

Keywords: Apparent diffusion coefficient; Diffusion-weighted imaging; Lung cancer; Observer agreement; Reproducibility.