Correlation Between Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Value on MRI and Histopathologic WHO Grades of Neuroendocrine Tumors

Background: The correlation of diffusion-weighted MRI and tumor aggressiveness has been established for different tumor types, which leads to the question if it could also apply for neuroendocrine tumors (NET).

Purpose: To investigate the possible correlation between apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and histopathologic WHO-grades of NET.

Material and methods: Electronic patient records from patients presented at the multidisciplinary neuro-endocrine tumor board between November 2017 and April 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with both available MR imaging (primary tumor or metastasis) and known WHO tumor grade were included (n = 47). Average and minimum ADC values (avgADC; minADC) were measured by drawing a freehand ROI excluding only the outermost border of the lesion. The largest axial size (primary tumor) or most clearly delineated lesion (metastasis) was used.

Results: Forty seven patients met the inclusion criteria (mean age 59 ± 12 SD; 24F/23M). Twenty one patients (45%) were diagnosed with WHO G1 tumor, 17 seventeen with G2 (36%) and nine with G3 (19%) tumor. Twenty eight primary tumors and 19 metastases were measured. A significant difference was found between low-grade (G1+G2) and high-grade (G3) tumors (Mann-Whitney; avgADC: p < 0,001; minADC: p = 0,001). There was a moderate negative correlation between WHO-grade and avgADC/minADC (Spearman; avgADC: -0,606; 95% CI [-0,773; -0,384]; minADC: -0,581; 95% CI [-0.759; -0.353]).

Conclusion: Our data show a significant difference in both average and minimum ADC values on MRI between low and high grade NET. A moderate negative correlation was found between histopathologic WHO grade and ADC value.