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

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 methodsThe 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