Diffusion-weighted imaging or dynamic contrast-enhanced curve: a retrospective analysis of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging-based differential diagnoses of benign and malignant breast lesions

Objective To compare the diagnostic performance of models based on a combination of contrast-enhanced (CE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) or time-intensity curves (TIC) in diagnosing malignancies of breast lesions. Methods A double-blind retrospective study was conducted in 328 patients (254 for training and the following 74 for validation) who underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) of the breast with pathological results. Two score models, the DWI model (apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) + morphology + enhanced information) and the TIC model (TIC + morphology + enhanced information), were established with binary logistic regression for mass and non-mass enhancements (NMEs) in the training set. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) were compared between the two models (DWI model vs. TIC model); p < 0.05 was considered as statistically different. External validation was used. Results In the training set, the sensitivities, specificities, and AUCs of the DWI/TIC model were 95.2%/95.8%, 70.8%/47.9%, and 0.932/0.891 for masses, and 94.2%/90.4%, 47.4%/47.4%, and 0.798 (95% CI, 0.686-0.884)/0.802 (95% CI, 0.691-0.887) for NMEs, respectively. The AUC of the DWI model was significantly higher than that of the TIC model (p < 0.05) for masses. In the validation set, the AUCs of the DWI/TIC model were 0.896/0.861 for masses (p < 0.05) and 0.936/0.836 for NMEs (p > 0.05). Conclusions Combined with CE MRI, the DWI model was superior or equal to the TIC model in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions.