Correlations between intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted MR imaging parameters and 18F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters in patients with vertebral bone metastases: initial experience

Objective:To investigate the relationship between intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) parameters and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) metabolic parameters in patients with vertebral bone metastases.Methods:Nineteen patients with vertebral bone metastases were retrospectively included in this institutional review board-approved study. All patients underwent IVIM DWI and 18F-FDG PET/CT before treatment. The IVIM parameters (molecular diffusion coefficient [D], perfusion fraction [f], and perfusion-related D [D*]) and apparent diffusion coefficient were acquired using 11 b-values (0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 80, 120, 200, 300, and 800 s/mm2). Maximum and mean standardized uptake values (SUVmax and SUVmean, respectively), metabolic tumor volume, and total lesion glycolysis derived from 18F-FDG PET/CT were calculated using thresholds of 3.0 SUV. The associations among parameters were evaluated by Spearman's correlation analysi...