Diffusion-Weighted Imaging of the Head and Neck in Healthy Subjects: Reproducibility of ADC Values in Different MRI Systems and Repeat Sessions

Background and Purpose: DWI is typically performed with EPI sequences in single-center studies. The purpose of this study was to determine the reproducibility of ADC values in the head and neck region in healthy subjects. In addition, the reproducibility of ADC values in different tissues was assessed to identify the most suitable reference tissue. Materials and Methods: Weprospectively studied 7 healthy subjects, with EPI and TSE sequences, on 5MR imaging systems at 3 time points in 2 institutions. ADC maps of EPI (with 2b-values and 6b-values) and TSE sequences were compared. Mean ADC values for different tissues (submandibular gland, sternocleidomastoid muscle, spinal cord, subdigastric lymph node, and tonsil) were used to evaluate intraand intersubject, intersystem, and intersequence variability by using a linear mixed model. Results: On 97% of images, a region of interest could be placed on the spinal cord, compared with 87% in the tonsil. ADC values derived from EPI-DWI with 2b-values and calculated EPI-DWI with 2b-values extracted from EPI-DWI with 6b-values did not differ significantly. The standard error of ADC measurement was the smallest for the tonsil and spinal cord (standard error of measurement = 151.2 × 10