Thyroid

In a preliminary study, the usefulness of DKI compared to DWI was investigated in thyroid lesions, also assessing the correlation of such MRI parameters with histopathologic features. Fifty-eight patients with thyroid nodules detected by ultrasound underwent MRI examination, including T1 and T2-weighted imaging, conventional DWI, and DKI. Histopathological analysis was performed with the evaluation of Ki-67 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), since Ki-67 is a cell proliferation protein and is considered a neoplastic marker, as mentioned above, and the VEGF is a cytokine that induces angiogenesis and is related to angiogenesis in tumors. Fifty-eight thyroid lesions were found, including twenty-four papillary thyroid cancers, twenty-one adenomas, seven nodular goiters, and six cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Malignant lesions showed significantly higher mean ADC and D values and lower K values compare to benign lesions. The number of positively-stained VEGF and Ki-67 cells was significantly higher in the malignant group. The DKI-derived D parameter showed the strongest correlation with both Ki-67 and VEGF. Therefore, DKI should be considered advantageous over the conventional DWI for the diagnosis of thyroid lesions with better diagnostic accuracy [150].
