Clinical utility of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in prostate cancer

Abstract

Study Type - Diagnostic (exploratory cohort) Level of Evidence 2b What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? This article reviews what is currently known about diffusion weighted MRI (DW-MRI) in prostate cancer. This mini-review concisely summarises, for clinical managing patients with prostate cancer, the clinical utility of diffusion weighted MRI. OBJECTIVE • To review the clinical utility of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) in patients with prostate cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS • The current literature on prostate cancer and DW-MRI was reviewed. RESULTS • DW-MRI can be readily acquired on a modern scanner with a short image acquisition time and no need for i.v. contrast medium. • The image contrast is based on the diffusion of water molecules and thus reflects tissue cellularity. • There is increasing evidence that DW- MRI improves the sensitivity and specificity of prostate cancer detection as well as the identification of tumour aggressiveness. • DW-MRI is also showing substantial promise as a response biomarker for both local and metastatic disease CONCLUSIONS • DW-MRI is proving to be a useful adjunct to conventional T2-weighted MRI sequences. • The eventual role of DW-MRI in combination with other MRI techniques for multiparametric assessment of prostate cancer needs to be defined further. © 2011 BJU INTERNATIONAL.