Abstract: Objective:To evaluate the clinical application of whole-body diffusion weighted imaging of nasopharyngeal cancers (NPCs ).Methods:Clinical data of 43 patients histopathologically confirmed cases of NPC, treated at Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen Uni-versity from August2008to December 2009, were analyzed. The apparent diffusion coefficient values (ADCs) and the imaging features of the original and metastatic lesions, the negative lymph nodes, and the benign hepatic masses were repeatedly measured and com-pared. Results: In the whole-body diffusion weighted imaging, the primary NPCs and the metastatic lesions were depicted with high signal intensity. The mean ADC values of the primary NPCs, lymph nodes, hepatic, bone, and pulmonary metastasis were ( 1.15± 0.21)× 10-3mm/s2, ( 1.19± 0.24) × 10-3mm/s2, ( 1.17± 0.24) × 10-3mm/s2, ( 1.13± 0.26) × 10-3mm/s2, and ( 1.12± 0.33) × 10-3mm/s2, respectively. There were no significant differences between the primary and metastases lesions or the metastasis between different parts of the body (P > 0.05). The benign lymph node and hepatic masses were depicted with slightly high signals in the DWI; their ADC val -ues were (1.37± 0.27) × 10-3mm/s2 and (2.15± 0.63) × 10-3mm/s2. There were significant differences in mean ADC values between the positive and negative lymph nodes, and between malignant and benign hepatic masses ( P < 0.001 ). The ADC values of the benign lesions were higher than the malignant ones. Conclusion:WB-DWI is a new functional magnetic resonance (MR) technique that can be used for the staging of NPC patients and for detecting tumor metastasis or recurrence.