Assessment of IVIM-DKI for characterization of benign and malignant lymph nodes in lymphoma

Intravoxel Incoherent motion-diffusion kurtosis imaging (IVIM-DKI) was used for evaluation and characterization of malignant lymph nodes in lymphoma. A total of twenty-one (n=21) patients diagnosed with biopsy proven Hodgkin lymphoma(HL: n=13) or non-Hodgkin lymphoma(NHL: n=8) were prospectively evaluated. IVIM-DKI parameters were estimated using standard IVIM-DKI model (standard model) and IVIM-DKI model with total variation(TV) penalty function method(IDTV model). Perfusion fraction (f) and kurtosis (k) estimated using IDTV model, and apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC) were significantly(p<0.05) lower in malignant lymph nodes than benign lymph nodes. f and k showed high AUC of 0.88 and 0.83, respectively for malignant vs. benign lymph nodes.