Objective To evaluate the role of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) in assesment of response to chemotherapy in patients with gastrointestinal liver metastasis. MethodsTen patients with liver metastasis （8 from colorectal cancer， 1 from gastric cancer， 1 from esophageal cancer） at Peking University People’s Hospital from April 2006 to April 2007 were included. All of them received chemotherapy （FOLFOX6： 4 cases， XELOX： 3 cases, and FOLFIRI： 1 case in 8 cases of colorectal liver metastases; ECF: 1 case of gastric liver metastases; DCF: 1 case of esophageal liver metastasis）. ADC were calculated after MR duffusionweight imaging exmination (GE MEDICAL SYSTEMS HD EXCITE 1.5 T) 1 month pre-and post-chemotherapy, respectively. Tumour response to chemotherapy was assessed by RECIST criteria. ResultsTumors with low pretreatment ADC (lt;9.04×10－4 mm2/s) responded better to chemotherapy than that with high ADC (gt;9.04×10－4 mm2/s); pretreatment ADC of cases (6/10) were remarkable lower than those of cases (4/10)， P＝0.033. Increased ADC after onemonth chemotherapy in patients with liver metastasis predicted a better response. ConclusionsLow pretreatment ADC is predictive of better response to chemotherapy. An increased ADC after treatment predicts a better response to chemotherapy.