MRI is capable of providing comprehensive and highly accurate diagnostic information, with the additional advantage of lack of harmful ionizing radiation. These properties make MRI the mainstay for the noninvasive evaluation of focal liver lesions.

Purpose. This study was to assess the utility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value in evaluating focal liver lesions to differentiate benign from malignant lesions.

Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study started from 1st August 2021 to 1st September 2022 in Babylon teaching hospital recruited patients with focal liver lesion diagnosed by other image modalities. Each patient underwent full assessment and history taken about disease guidance by personal questionnaire and complete clinical assessment. Magnetic resonance imaging examinations were performed on 1.5 T system (1.5 Tesla device). All patients were examined in the supine position throughout the examination. DWIs were obtained in transverse plane using single-shot echo-planar spin echo sequences.

Results. The study include 59 patients aged from 20-70 years old, mean age 57.2±10.4 years. Patients below 50 years age constituted 23.8% of sample and 76.2% of patients aged 50 years or more. Male to female ratio was 1.8:1. Pathological findings by MRI there were 38.7% haemangioma, 6.4% focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH), 4.8% hepatic adenoma, 13% hepatocellular carcinomas, 19.3% liver metastasis, 9.7% cyst and 8.1% cholangiocarcinoma.

Conclusions. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value is a reliable index for differentiation benign from malignant liver lesions. The mean ADC value for benign lesion was 1.8±0.7 (10-3 mm2/s) and for malignant was 1.3±0.4 (10-3 mm2/s) these difference was statistically significant, p-value <0.001. The ADC value of benign hepatic lesions was higher than the ADC value of malignant hepatic lesions.