Application of intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging on the diagnosis of breast cancer

Background: to explore the application of intravoxel incoherent motion (ivim) parameters based on mono- and bi-exponential models for diagnosing breast cancer (bc). materials and methods: 43 patients underwent breast magnetic resonance (mr) scanned before operation and the images were transferred to aw volume share 5 post-processing workstation. the mono-exponential and bi-exponential model was used to measure the slow diffusion coefficient (dc) (d), fast dc (d*) and fraction of perfusion (f). and the association between different parameter values and bc grading was analyzed via spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. results: the d mono value of 13 patients with benign breast diseases was higher than that of 30 patients with bc (4.04 ± 0.23 vs 2.59 ± 0.64，p<0.05) while there was no statistical significance on the value of d* mono, f mono, d bi, d* bi and f bi. additionally, the parameter differences of d mono, d* mono, d bi and d* bi had statistical significance between the different bc grades. and the grades of bc had a negative correlation with d mono and d bi while were positively related to d* mono and d* bi. it was most closely related to d* bi than d bi. d mono value in er-positive were higher than that in er-negative group (3.09±0.37 vs 1.03±0.09, p=.0095). conclusion: ivim could be used to diagnose bc, predict histological grading and er expression and provide valuable imaging for the clinical treatment and prognosis of bc patients.