The Open Prostate Cancer Journal

2014, 7 : 1-6
Published online 2014 January 24. DOI: 10.2174/1876822901407010001
Publisher ID: TOPCANJ-7-1

A Comparison of Different Imaging Techniques for Localisation of Cancers in the Prostate

Sam Ladjevardi , Jan Weis , Jens Sörensen , Anna Tolf , Michael Häggman , Catrin von Below and Håkan Jorulf
Department of Urology, University Hospital, 751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.

ABSTRACT

The diagnostic accuracy of standard transrectal ultrasound-guided (TRUL) biopsy is limited due to the finite number of cores that can be obtained. It has been shown that the technique is not sufficiently reliable in defining the location and extent of prostatic cancer. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET/CT) imaging techniques in pinpointing potential tumour lesions prior to prostate biopsy.

Material and methods:

The study cohort consisted of 45 men with a raised prostate specific-antigen (PSA) level and/or suspected prostate cancer (PCa) at digital rectal examinations (DRE). Of the 45 patients, 23 had PCa detected with core needle biopsy (CNB). All had 11C acetate PET/CT imaging. Ten of those 23 patients underwent radical prostatectomy (RP), of those ten patients, eight patients had MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) with 3 T and six had diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) with apparent diffusion coefficient calculation (MRI DWI ADC). CNB, PET/CT, 2D MRSI and ADC map results were compared with postoperative specimen histopathology.

Results:

The sensitivity of CNB, PET/CT, MRSI and DWI ADC were 0.53, 0.55, 0.79 and 0.95, whereas the specificity of was 0.88, 0.87, 0.46 and 0.73, respectively.

Conclusion:

MRI improves the PCa detection by defining the areas of interest for targeted CNB of the prostate and can reduce the number of biopsies required.

Keywords:

Prostate cancer, Imaging technique, MRI.