LAUSR

The aim of this study was to correlate the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) with histopathological parameters of salivary gland cancer. A retrospective analysis of 44 patients with salivary gland cancer who underwent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of salivary glands was performed. The ADC of salivary gland cancer was correlated with pathological tumour type and grade, stage (T stage and N stage), and morphological (perineural spread and location) prognostic parameters. There was a significant difference in ADC values between low-intermediate- and high-grade tumours (P = 0.024), lower T stages (T1, T2) versus higher T stages (T3, T4) (P = 0.001), lower N stages (N0, N1) versus higher N stages (N2, N3) (P = 0.001), and the presence versus absence of perineural spread (P = 0.001). The cut-off ADC values to predict higher-grade, higher T stage, nodal spread, and perineural spread were 0.94, 0.92, 0.94, and 0.98 × 10-3 mm2/s, with area under the curve of 0.847, 0.858, 0.900, and 0.798 and accuracy of 75.0%, 75.0%, 75.0%, and 77.3%, respectively. The ADC value is a non-invasive imaging parameter that correlates with histopathological parameters of salivary gland cancer.