The utility of diffusion-weighted imaging for differentiation of phyllodes tumor from fibroadenoma and breast cancer

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utility of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values for differentiating breast tumors. METHODS: The medical records of 17 patients with phyllodes tumor [PT; circular regions of interest (ROI-cs) n = 171], 74 patients with fibroadenomas (FAs; ROI-cs, n = 94), and 57 patients with breast cancers (BCs; ROI-cs, n = 104) confirmed by surgical pathology were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: There were significant differences between PTs, FAs, and BCs in ADCmean, ADCmax, and ADCmin values. The cutoff ADCmean for differentiating PTs from FAs was 1.435 × 10(−3) mm(2)/s, PTs from BCs was 1.100 × 10(−3) mm(2)/s, and FAs from BCs was 0.925 × 10(−3) mm(2)/s. There were significant differences between benign PTs, borderline PTs, and malignant PTs in ADCmean, ADCmax, and ADCmin values. The cutoff ADCmean for differentiating benign PTs from borderline PTs was 1.215 × 10(−3) mm(2)/s, and borderline PTs from malignant PTs was 1.665 × 10(−3) mm(2)/s. CONCLUSION: DWI provides quantitative information that can help distinguish breast tumors.