Diagnostic value of ADC in Patients with Prostate Cancer: Influence of the Choice of b-Values

Gregor Thrmer¹, Josephin Otto¹, Martin Reiss-Zimmermann¹, Matthias Seiwerts¹, Nikita Garnov¹, Michael Moche¹, Thomas Kahn¹, Harald Busse¹

The differentiation between high (Gleason Score > 6) and low (6) grade prostate cancer (PCa) is considered important for therapeutic decision. For that purpose, we investigated the diagnostic potential of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). The influence of the choice of b-values (four methods) was retrospectively studied on 40 patients with known PCa. Although absolute ADC values in PCa and surrounding healthy tissue (SHT) significantly (p<0.001) depended on the b-values, the ADC ratios (PCa/SHT) were nearly independent of the method. Image appearance of ADC maps using b=50 and 800 [mm/s²] was rated most suitable for PCa detection by three readers.