The Role of Dynamic Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Differentiation of Soft Tissue Masses

1 , Serap Dogan 1 ABSTRACT Objective: To show the magnetic resonance imaging char- acteristics of soft tissue masses, and to evaluate the aid of contrast-enhanced static and dynamic magnetic resonance im- aging for the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions. Methods: A total of 35 soft tissue masses (16 benign and 19 malignant) were included in this prospective study. Diagnoses of 32 massses (all malignant and 13 benign masses) were histo- logically confirmed. Diagnoses of 3 benign masses (hematomas) were confirmed with clinical follow-up. Magnetic resonance (MR) images were performed with a 1.5 T MR system (Philips, Medical Systems, The Best, Netherlands). Body coil or surface coil was used depending on the location and size of the lesion. T1 weighted (W) turbo spin-echo (TSE), T2 -W TSE and short tau inversion recovery (STIR) sequences, dynamic contrast-en- hanced (DCE) MR images were performed, followed by static contrast-enhanced MR images. The frequency distribution of the individual magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters in the benign group was compared with that in the malignant group by using the Chi-square test. Results: On non-enhanced images; tumor size, peritumoral edema, bone and neurovas- cular involvement were statistically significant between be - nign and malignant lesions. Presence of necrosis was only seen in malignant lesions on static contrast-enhanced images. The sensitivity, spesificity and overall accuracy of DCE images for the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions was 94% 75% 86% respectively (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Our study shows that the use of DCE MRI can help for the differentiation of benign and malignant soft tissue tumors.