Diffusion-weighted echo-planar magnetic resonance imaging for the assessment of tumor cellularity in patients with soft-tissue sarcomas.

Purpose: To investigate the eligibility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for the evaluation of tumor cellularity in patients with soft-tissue sarcomas.

Materials And Methods: Thirty consecutive patients with a total of 31 histologically-proven soft-tissue sarcomas prospectively underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including DWI with echo-planar imaging (EPI) technique immediately before open biopsy (N = 1) or tumor resection (N = 30). Fourteen patients had no previous anticancer treatment, 16 had received neoadjuvant therapy.