Multiparametric approach with synthetic MR imaging for diagnosing salivary gland lesions

Purpose To determine whether synthetic MR imaging can distinguish between benign and malignant salivary gland lesions. Methods The study population included 44 patients with 33 benign and 11 malignant salivary gland lesions. All MR imaging was obtained using a 3 Tesla system. The QRAPMASTER pulse sequence was used to acquire images with four TI values and two TE values, from which quantitative images of T1 and T2 relaxation times and proton density (PD) were generated. The Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare T1, T2, PD, and ADC values among the subtypes of salivary gland lesions. ROC analysis was used to evaluate diagnostic capability between malignant tumors (MTs) and either pleomorphic adenomas (PAs) or Warthin tumors (WTs). We further calculated diagnostic accuracy for distinguishing malignant from benign lesions when combining these parameters. Results PAs demonstrated significantly higher T1, T2, PD, and ADC values than WTs (all p