Author/Authors :
Assili، S نويسنده Medical Physics Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran , , Fathi Kazerooni ، A نويسنده Quantitative MR Imaging and Spectroscopy Group, Research Center for Cellular and Molecular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , , Aghaghazvini، L نويسنده Department of Radiology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , , Saligheh Rad، H R نويسنده Quantitative MR Imaging and Spectroscopy Group, Research Center for Cellular and Molecular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , , Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Departm، J نويسنده Medical Physics Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran ,
Abstract :
Background: Salivary gland tumors form nearly 3% of head and neck tumors. Due
to their large histological variety and vicinity to facial nerves, pre-operative diagnosis
and differentiation of benign and malignant parotid tumors are a major challenge for
radiologists.
Objective: The majority of these tumors are benign; however, sometimes they
tend to transform into a malignant form. Functional MRI techniques, namely dynamic
contrast enhanced (DCE-) MRI and diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) can indicate the
characteristics of tumor tissue.
Methods: DCE-MRI analysis is based on the parameters of time intensity curve
(TIC) before and after contrast agent injection. This method has the potential to identify the angiogenesis of tumors. DWI analysis is performed according to diffusion of
water molecules in a tissue for determination of the cellularity of tumors.
Conclusion: According to the literature, these methods cannot be used individually to differentiate benign from malignant salivary gland tumors. An effective approach
could be to combine the aforementioned methods to increase the accuracy of discrimination between different tumor types. The main objective of this study is to explore
the application of DCE-MRI and DWI for assessment of salivary gland tumor types.
