Evaluation of diffusion weighted imaging in the context of multi-parametric MRI of the prostate in the assessment of suspected low volume prostatic carcinoma

Abstract

Data from a multi-parametric MRI study of patients with possible early-stage prostate cancer was assessed with a view to creating an efficient clinical protocol. Based on a correlation analysis suggesting that diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) scores are more strongly correlated with overall PIRADS scores than other modalities such as dynamic contrast enhanced imaging or spectroscopy, we investigate the combination of T2-weighted imaging (T2w) and DWI as a potential diagnostic tool for prostate cancer detection, staging and guided biopsies. Quantification of the noise floor in the DWI images and careful fitting of the data suggests that the mono-exponential model provides a very good fit to the data and there is no evidence of non-Gaussian diffusion for b-values up to 1000 s/mm 2 . This precludes the use of kurtosis or other non-Gaussian measures as a biomarker for prostate cancer in our case. However, the ADC scores for healthy and probably malignant regions are significantly lower for the latter in all 20 but one patient. The results suggest that a simplified mp-MRI protocol combining T2w and DWI may be a good compromise for a cost and time efficient, early-stage prostate cancer diagnostic programme, combining robust * Corresponding author.

68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT combining ADC value of MRI in the diagnosis of naive prostate cancer

“…The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) generated by diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a parameter for quantitative analysis of malignant lesions. [ 4 , 5 ] Though ADC is helpful for tumor characterization, false-positive and false-negative findings are common. [ 6 ] Therefore, ADC alone has not become the single parameter with which to decide on biopsy.…”