Intra- and interobserver variability of whole-tumour apparent diffusion coefficient measurements in nephroblastoma: a pilot study

Background: The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is potentially useful for assessing treatment response in nephroblastoma (Wilms tumour). However the precision of ADC measurements in these heterogeneous lesions is unknown.

Objective: To assess intra- and interobserver variability of whole-tumour ADC measurements in viable parts of nephroblastomas at diagnosis and after preoperative chemotherapy. Materials and methods: We included children with histopathologically proven nephroblastoma who had undergone MRI with diffusion-weighted imaging before and after preoperative chemotherapy. Three independent observers performed whole-tumour ADC measurements of all lesions, excluding non-enhancing areas. One observer evaluated all lesions on two occasions. We performed analyses using Bland–Altman plots and concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) calculations with 95% limits of agreement for median ADC, difference between pre- and post-chemotherapy median ADC (ADC shift) and percentage of pixels with ADC values −3 mm²/s.

Results: In 22 lesions (13 pretreatment and 9 post-treatment) in 10 children the interobserver variability in median ADC and ADC shift were within the interval of approximately ±0.1 × 10⁻³ mm²/s (limits of agreement for median ADC ranged −0.08–0.11 × 10⁻³ mm²/s and for ADC-shift −0.11–0.09 × 10⁻³ mm²/s). The interobserver variability for percentage of low-ADC pixels was larger and also biased. The calculated CCC confirmed good intra- and interobserver agreement (ρ-c ranging from 0.968 to 0.996).

 Conclusion: Measurements of whole-tumour ADC values excluding necrotic areas seem to be sufficiently precise for detection of chemotherapy-related change.