Simultaneous multislice diffusion-weighted imaging with short tau inversion recovery fat suppression in bone-metastasizing breast cancer

•Multiband DWI reduces scan time of whole-body DWI in bone-metastatic breast cancer.•Multiband DWI provides image quality similar to conventional DWI.•ADC values from multiband DWI are slightly lower than conventional DWI. To compare image quality and ADC values of simultaneous multislice diffusion-weighted imaging (mb-DWI) with that of conventional DWI (c-DWI) using short tau inversion recovery fat saturation (STIR) in women with bone-metastasizing breast cancer. c-DWI and mb-DWI were acquired at 1.5 T in 23 breast cancer patients from skull base to mid thighs. mb-DWI was compared to c-DWI in terms of subjective image quality, artefacts and bone metastasis lesion conspicuity assessed on a 5-point Likert scale. ADC values of different organs as well as bone metastasis ADC values were compared between c-DWI and mb-DWI. mb-DWI reduced scan time by 48 % compared with c-DWI (1 min 58 s vs. 3 min 45 s per station). mb-DWI provided similar subjective image quality (3.8 vs. 3.7, p = 0.70), number of artefacts (50 vs. 56), severity of these (4.6 vs. 4.7, p = 0.11), and lesion conspicuity (4.2 vs. 4.4, p = 0.31) compared to c-DWI. mb-DWI showed lower mean ADC values in liver (0.5 × 10−3 mm2/s vs. 0.7 × 10−3 mm2/s, p = 0.002) and erector spine muscle (1.3 × 10−3 mm2/s vs. 1.5 × 10−3 mm2/s, p < 0.001). Bone metastasis ADC values from mb-DWI were 6.4 % lower than c-DWI (95 % confidence interval: 5.4%–7.4%, p < 0.001). mb-DWI provides similar subjective image quality to c-DWI with the same level of artefacts. Although bone metastasis ADC values were lower, mb-DWI can substantially reduce scan times of whole-body DWI in women with bone-metastasizing breast cancer.