Application of magnetic resonance diffusion kurtosis imaging for distinguishing histopathologic subtypes and grades of rectal carcinoma

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) for distinguishing different histopathological subtypes and grades of rectal carcinoma and to compare DKI with conventional diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). METHODS: This prospective study involved 132 patients with rectal carcinoma, comprising 116 with adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified (AC) and 16 with mucinous carcinoma (MC). High spatial resolution magnetic resonance (MR) and DKI sequences (b values of 0, 600, 1000, 1500 and 2000 s/mm(2)) were performed for pretreatment evaluation. The mean kurtosis (MK) and mean diffusivity (MD) from DKI and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) from DWI were measured by two experienced radiologists. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to evaluate different histopathological subtypes and grades. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to compare the diagnostic ability of different quantitative parameters. RESULTS: The MD and ADC values were significantly higher for MC than for AC (1.94 ± 0.51 vs. 1.33 ± 0.02 and 1.26 ± 0.64 vs. 0.92 ± 0.01, respectively; P < 0.001). The MK values were significantly lower for MC than for AC (0.66 ± 0.02 vs. 0.93 ± 0.09, P < 0.001). The MK and MD values demonstrated higher sensitivity (94%, both) and specificity (96, 93%, respectively) than the ADC values. However, all the parameters derived from both DKI and DWI showed no significant differences between different histological grades. CONCLUSIONS: DKI is a more valuable imaging biomarker than conventional DWI for differentiating MC from AC. However, it is still debatable whether DKI is useful for distinguishing different histological grades.