A comparative study of multimodal MR in the differential diagnosis of AIDS-related central nervous system lymphoma and infection

Abstract Background: To compare the ability of multimodal magnetic resonance(MR) to differentiate acquired immune deficiency syndrome-related(AIDS-related) central nervous system lymphoma (ARL-CNS) from infection.Methods: Clinical data and multiple MR imaging were analyzed retrospectively. Nine cases of ARL-CNS and ten cases with central nervous system infection were included.Results: In conventional MR, there was a statistical significance in whether the lesion involved the paraventricular/corpus callosum. The Fisher values were 0.020 and 0.033 for the lymphoma and infection groups, respectively. In multimodal MR, there were significant differences in the ADC(apparent diffusion coeffecient) values(high/low) and SWI-ITSS grades between two groups, with pvalues of 0.003, 0.001 and 0.001. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of conventional MR in the diagnosis of ARL-CNS were 88.9%, 70.0% and 78.9%, respectively. The conventional sequence combined with the DWI/ADC sequence in the diagnosis of ARL-CNS had a sensitivity of 100.0%, a specificity of 60.0% and an accuracy of 78.9%. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the conventional sequence combined with the SWI-ITSS sequence in the diagnosis of ARL-CNS were 100%, 70.0% and 84.2%, respectively.Conclusion: Multimodal MR is of great value in distinguishing ARL-CNS from infection.