Geometric Distortion in Diffusion Weighted MR Imaging of the Prostate using Air vs. Per-Fluorocarbon Filled Endorectal Coil at 3.0 T

Maysam Jafar¹, Veronica A. Morgan¹, Sharon Giles¹, David J. Collins¹, Maria A. Schmidt¹, Nandita M. deSouza¹

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) has been used in both clinical and research settings for detecting cancer-related disease. It is particularly beneficial in prostate cancer tumour detection. In this paper spatial geometric distortion arising from the air-tissue interface of an air-filled balloon endorectal coil vs a PFC filled one in DWI of the prostate is discussed. Regions of interest are drawn around a T2W image and a DW image to quantify the amount of spatial distortion. Our initial results indicate that inflating the endorectal coil with PFC in DWI prostate examinations results in a greater confidence interval for slices in the middle and in the base of the prostate but not at the prostate apex.