Morani AC, Elsayes KM, Liu PS, Weadock WJ, Szklaruk J, Dillman JR, Khan A, Chenevert TL, Hussain HK. Abdominal applications of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging: Where do we stand. World J Radiol 2013; 5(3): 68-80 [PMID: 23671743 DOI: 10.4329/wjr.v5.i3.68]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ajaykumar C Morani, MD, MBBS, DNB, Department of Radiology, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, United States. ajaycmorani@yahoo.com
Article-Type of This Article
Topic Highlight
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Radiol. Mar 28, 2013; 5(3): 68-80 Published online Mar 28, 2013. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v5.i3.68
Abdominal applications of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging: Where do we stand
Ajaykumar C Morani, Khaled M Elsayes, Peter S Liu, William J Weadock, Janio Szklaruk, Jonathan Russell Dillman, Asra Khan, Thomas L Chenevert, Hero K Hussain
Ajaykumar C Morani, Khaled M Elsayes, Janio Szklaruk, Department of Radiology, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Peter S Liu, William J Weadock, Jonathan Russell Dillman, Asra Khan, Thomas L Chenevert, Hero K Hussain, Department of Radiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
Author contributions: Morani AC designed, wrote and researched the paper as well as searched the literature; Elsayes KM designed, contributed to adrenal portion; Liu PS contributed to pancreas portion; Elsayes KM, Liu PS, Weadock WJ, Szklaruk J, Dillman JR, Chenevert TL and Hussain HK edited and checked the manuscript; Khan A contributed to kidney portion of the paper.
Correspondence to: Ajaykumar C Morani, MD, MBBS, DNB, Department of Radiology, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, United States. ajaycmorani@yahoo.com
Telephone: +1-713-7452509 Fax: +1-713-7944379
Received: September 29, 2012 Revised: October 21, 2012 Accepted: January 31, 2013 Published online: March 28, 2013
Abstract
Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is one of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences providing qualitative as well as quantitative information at a cellular level. It has been widely used for various applications in the central nervous system. Over the past decade, various extracranial applications of DWI have been increasingly explored, as it may detect changes even before signal alterations or morphological abnormalities become apparent on other pulse sequences. Initial results from abdominal MRI applications are promising, particularly in oncological settings and for the detection of abscesses. The purpose of this article is to describe the clinically relevant basic concepts of DWI, techniques to perform abdominal DWI, its analysis and applications in abdominal visceral MR imaging, in addition to a brief overview of whole body DWI MRI.
