Published online Feb 28, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i8.929
Peer-review started: December 21, 2017
First decision: January 3, 2018
Revised: January 11, 2018
Accepted: January 18, 2018
Article in press: January 18, 2018
Published online: February 28, 2018
Core tip: Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM)-based diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can yield diffusion and perfusion information simultaneously. The aims of this study were to compare IVIM-derived parameters with conventional DWI parameters for predicting the histological grade of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to evaluate the correlation between the parameters and the histological grades. Sixty-two patients with surgically confirmed HCC underwent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging with twelve b values. The differences in the ADC and D values among the groups with G1, G2, and G3 histological grades of HCC were statistically significant (P < 0.001). The D* and f values had no significant differences among the different histological grades of HCC (P > 0.05). A significant correlation was obtained between the ADC, D, and D* values and the histological grades (P < 0.05). The ROC analyses demonstrated that the D and ADC values had better diagnostic performance in differentiating low-grade HCC from high-grade HCC. These results suggested that the IVIM-DWI parameters might be useful in assessing the differentiation grades of HCC, which might be helpful in predicting the patient prognosis.