Diagnostic Utility of Diffusion-Weighted Imaging and Apparent Diffusion Coefficient for Common Orbital Lesions: A Review.

PURPOSE: To review and summarize the existing literature surrounding the clinical use of diffusion-weighted imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) as diagnostic tools in differentiating common orbital lesions.

METHODS

A systematic literature review on the use of ADC and diffusion-weighted imaging sequences for orbital imaging was performed. Only original research articles that reported ADC values for benign or malignant lesions were included.

RESULTS

Malignant orbital tumors have an overall lower mean ADC value than benign masses. Orbital lymphoma is characterized by consistently lower ADC values compared with other malignant orbital masses; a threshold value less than 0.775 × 10 -3 mm 2 /s has been proposed to distinguish orbital lymphoma from other neoplastic and non-neoplastic orbital masses. To differentiate orbital inflammatory disease from lymphoma, an ADC threshold greater than 0.92 × 10 -3 mm 2 /s has been proposed.

CONCLUSIONS

Orbital masses encompass a host of benign and malignant etiologies and can present a diagnostic challenge on both clinical and radiological assessment. Recent advanced MRI techniques such as diffusion-weighted imaging and ADC can improve the diagnostic specificity for orbital disease, particularly in differentiating benign from malignant lesions and lymphoma from orbital inflammatory disease.