Comparison of diffusion kurtosis imaging versus diffusion weighted imaging in predicting the recurrence of early stage single nodules of hepatocellular carcinoma treated by radiofrequency ablation

Objective: This study aimed to compare the diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) versus diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) in predicting the recurrence of early stage single nodules of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated by radiofrequency ablation (RFA).

Materials and methods: A retrospective analysis of 107 patients with early stage single nodules of HCC was performed, all patients treated by RFA. Recurrence rate of HCC was recorded after a median follow-up of 36 months. During follow-up, the data of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), DWI and DKI were obtained in multiple time points. The predictive values of DWI and DKI were analyzed using ROC curves.

Results: The overall recurrence rate was 66.3% (71/107). The sensitivity, specificity, and AUC for ADC, MD and MK after RFA (78.6, 73.3% and 0.842; 85.7, 83.3% and 0.839; 85.7, 96.7% and 0.956) were higher than before RFA (44.3, 53.3% and 0.560; 51.2, 56.7% and 0.543; 43.6, 67.3% and 0.489). The sensitivity, specificity, and AUC for MK after RFA were 85.7, 96.7%, and 0.956, respectively, which were significantly greater than those of ADC (78.6, 73.3% and 0.842; P < 0.05) and MD (85.7, 83.3% and 0.839).

Conclusions: The prediction efficacy of DKI for the recurrence of early stage single nodules of HCC was better than that of DWI. And, MK was the most sensitive predictor among the DKI.