Perfusion-based functional magnetic resonance imaging for differentiating serous borderline ovarian tumors from early serous ovarian cancers in a rat model

Abstract

Background Differentiation of borderline tumors from early ovarian cancer has recently received increasing attention, since borderline tumors often affect young women of childbearing age who desire to preserve fertility. However, previous studies have demonstrated that non-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences cannot sufficiently differentiate these tumors. Purpose To investigate the value of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) and intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI) in differentiating serous borderline ovarian tumors (SBOT) from early serous ovarian cancers (eSOCA). Material and Methods Twenty SBOT and 20 eSOCA rat models were performed with DCE-MRI and IVIM-DWI at 3.0-T MR scanner. Qualitative and quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI were acquired and compared between two groups and correlated with the microvessel density (MVD). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were conducted to determine their differentiating performances. Results SBOTs presented significantly lower values of the initial area under the enhancement curve (iAUC), volume transfer constant (Ktrans), and extracellular extravascular volume fraction (ve) ( P <  0.05) and a significantly higher value of true diffusion (D) ( P =  0.001) compared with eSOCAs. The diagnostic effectiveness of ve combined with D was significantly better than that of ve or Ktrans alone ( P ≤  0.039). Conclusion DCE-MRI may represent a promising tool for differentiating SBOTs from eSOCAs and may not be replaced by IVIM-DWI. Combining DCE-MRI with DWI may improve the diagnostic performance of ovarian tumors.