MR Elastography of the Prostate Using an Endorectal Coil for Actuation: Feasibility in a Phantom and Porcine Prostate

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

MRE is an emerging technique that measures the propagation of mechanical waves to noninvasively determine the viscoelastic tissue properties. As such, it provides complimentary information to common morphological and functional MRI data, has already been evaluated in the breast and liver, and holds promise to improve prostate diagnostics as well. Previous prostate MRE work was partially limited by a suboptimal coupling of the mechanical waves into the prostate gland. This work describes a new concept for endorectal MRE at 3T and presents preliminary results in a phantom and a porcine prostate.