Validation of Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (DWI/MRSI) to Assess Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness

Thiele Kobus¹, Thomas Hambrock¹, Christina Hulsbergen - Van de Kaa², Jelle Barentsz¹, Arend Heerschap¹, Tom Scheenen¹

To validate the use of diffusion weighed imaging (DWI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) for tumor aggressiveness assessment, 37 patients with prostate cancer had a magnetic resonance imaging, DWI and MRSI exam on a 3T system with endorectal coil prior to prostatectomy. Individual and combined DWI and MRSI methods were used to discriminate between high- and low-grade tumors using histopathology as gold standard. Combining DWI and MRSI with linear discriminant analysis to separate tumors gave a higher sensitivity and specificity than any of the techniques separately. This suggests that DWI and MRSI provide complementary information about aggressiveness.