Differential diagnosis between malignant and benign hepatic tumors using apparent diffusion coefficient on 1.5-T MR imaging: A meta analysis

This meta-analysis evaluates the diagnostic accuracy of diffusion-weighted MR imaging with ADC values for differentiation between malignant and benign hepatic focal lesions. From retrieved articles, we selected 7 sets of data in 6 articles, which met all the included criteria, for meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 86% (95% CI, 0.83-0.90) and 84% (95% CI, 0.78-0.88), respectively. However, notable heterogeneity between studies was noted and no covariate evaluated can explain the cause. Only b factor correlated with the mean ADC values of malignant and benign hepatic tumors. In conclusion, ADC value was useful for differentiation between malignant and benign hepatic focal lesions. But, significant heterogeneity between studies underlines the need for further efforts to optimize standardization and reproducibility of the utilized techniques and methods. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.