Erratum to: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a pilot study of quantitative perfusion and diffusion-weighted breath-hold magnetic resonance imaging

Purpose To confirm the feasibility of breath-hold DCE-MRI and DWI at 3T to obtain the intra-abdominal quantitative physiologic parameters, K trans , k ep , and ADC, in patients with untreated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas. Methods Diffusion-weighted single-shot echo-planar imaging (DW-SS-EPI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI were used for 16 patients with newly diagnosed biopsy-proven pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas. K trans , k ep , and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of pancreatic tumors, non-tumor adjacent pancreatic parenchyma (NAP), liver metastases, and normal liver tissues were quantitated and statistically compared. Results Fourteen patients were able to adequately hold their breath for DCE-MRI, and 15 patients for DW-SS-EPI. Four patients had liver metastases within the 6 cm of Z axis coverage centered on the pancreatic primary tumors. K trans values (10 −3 min −1 ) of primary pancreatic tumors, NAP, liver metastases, and normal liver tissues were 7.3 ± 4.2 (mean ± SD), 25.8 ± 14.9, 8.1 ± 5.9, and 45.1 ± 15.6, respectively, k ep values (10 −2 min −1 ) were 3.0 ± 0.9, 7.4 ± 3.1, 5.2 ± 2.0, and 12.1 ± 2.8, respectively, and ADC values (10 −3 mm 2 /s) were 1.3 ± 0.2, 1.6 ± 0.3, 1.1 ± 0.1, and 1.3 ± 0.1, respectively. K trans , k ep, and ADC values of primary pancreatic tumors were significantly lower than those of NAP ( p < 0.05), while K trans and k ep values of liver metastases were significantly lower than those of normal liver tissues ( p < 0.05). Conclusions 3T breath-hold quantitative physiologic MRI is a feasible technique that can be applied to a majority of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinomas.