Quantitative Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI:Study For Differentiating Between Benign And Malignant Musculoskeletal Tumors Of The Lower Limb

Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic performance of quantitative parameters derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging（DCE-MRI）in differentiating benign and malignant musculoskeletal tumors of the lower limb.Methods:Thirty-two patients（age range,11-81 years;mean age,37 years）with musculoskeletal tumors of the lower limb underwent pretreatment DCE-MRI.All MRI images were acquired using a 3 T MRI system.DCE-MRI was performed using a 3D LAVA（Liver acquisition volume acceleration）imaging sequence.The DCE-MRI data were analysed for the influx volume transfer constant(K^trans),the efflux rate constant(K_ep),and the relative extravascular extracellular space（Ve）.Using pathological results as a gold standard,tumors were divided into benign and malignant tumors.For the parameters K^trans,Ve,K_ep,the difference between the tumors and the control tissues using paired t-tests;the difference between benign and malignant musculoskeletal tumors was examined via two-sample t-test.P values<0.05 difference was statistically significant.Results:All parameter values were significantly different between tumors and the control tissues（p<0.05）.The K^transrans was significantly higher in the malignant musculoskeletal tumors than in the benign musculoskeletal tumors（P<0.001）.The Ve and K_epp showed no difference between benign and malignant musculoskeletal tumors（P>0.05）.Conclusion:The K^transrans could help to detect malignant musculoskeletal tumors from benign musculoskeletal tumours.