Clinical application of MRI in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of soft palate occupying lesions

ZHANG Wei; LIN Sheng-mei; TONG Yong-xiu; WU Shao-jie; DU Rui-bin; BAO Qiang; MA Ming-ping; GUO Guo-dong

Abstract：Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of CT and MRI in soft palate occupying lesions .Methods We retro-spectively analyzed the CT and MRI imaging manifestations in 26 cases of the soft palate occupying lesions proved pathology .The image diagnosis and pathology results were matched for Pair-Sampleχ2 Test and Kappa Test.The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and Youden index were calculated .Results According to pathological results , the 26 patients were divided into two groups , be-nignant lesion (15 patients), and malignant lesion (11 patients).Hemangioma and pleomorphic adenoma were easier to appear in the benign group .Squamous cell carcinoma was easier to be found in the malignant group .The typical imaging manifestations were clear boundary , uniform density and signal , rare necrosis , occasional calcification , relatively homogeneous enhancement , and cyst without reinforcement in the soft palate occupying lesions .On the contrary , representative imaging findings were obscure boundary , irregular shape or lobulated , central necrosis , accompanied by lymphadenectasis ,uneven enhancement , necrosis with-out reinforcement in the malignant lesions .The coincidence degree between imaging diagnosis and pathologic analysis was higher ( k =0.766, P <0.05).The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and Youden's index in the preoperative diagnosis of soft palate be-nign or malignant occupying lesions were 90.9%, 86.7%, 88.5%, 77.6%, respectively.Conclusion Preoperative MRI ex-amination has very important value in the qualitative diagnosis and differential diagnosis of soft palate occupying lesions .