Assessment of Correlation between Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Diffusion Weighted MR Imaging and Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MR Imaging of Sacroiliitis with Ankylosing Spondylitis

The relationships between IVIM and DCE-MRI parameters in AS are not clear. We explore the correlation between intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) parameters obtained on MR images in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Forty-four patients with AS were prospectively examined using a 1.5-T MR system. IVIM DWI was performed with 11 b values (range, 0–800 s/mm(2)) for all patients. The correlation coefficients between IVIM and DCE-MRI parameters were analyzed using Spearman's method. Our results showed that intra- and interobserver reproducibility were excellent to relatively good (ICC = 0.804–0.981; narrow width of 95% limits of agreement). Moderate positive correlations were observed between pure molecular diffusion (Ds) and maximum enhancement (ME) and relative enhancement (RE) (r = 0.700, P < 0.001; r = 0.607, P < 0.001, resp.). Perfusion-related diffusion (Df) showed negative moderate correlation with ME (r = −0.608, P < 0.001). However, no correlation was observed between perfusion fraction (f) and any parameters of ME, RE, TTP, and BE (r = −0.093–0.213; P > 0.165). In conclusion, the IVIM parameters, especially f, might play a critical role in detecting the progression of AS, because it can provide more perfusion information compared with DCE-MRI; besides the IVIM MRI is a noninvasive method.