Abstract

Objective: Prostat cancer is the most common cause of death due to cancer in men and can be cured succesfully if diagnosed at early stages. The most common clinical diagnosis methods are digital rectal examination (DRE) and serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) measurement. In this study, we evaluated the contribution of the endorectal coil magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to the diagnosis of prostate pathologies.

Materials and methods: Patients with positive DRE and high PSA levels were applied routine MRI following the body coil and rectal coil applications, single voksel magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) for the suspected lesion, and the dynamic imaging following intravenous contrast injection, all before the biopsy. For all the cases, biopsy was performed with transrectal ultrasonography after MRI. 

Results: A total of 39 cases, among which 11 (28%) had diagnosis of prostate adenocarcinoma, were included in the study. All of the cases were diagnosed with benign prostate hyperplasia due to hyperplasia of central and transitional zones. Choline+creatine /citrate and choline/citrate ratios were measured with MRS. A statistically significant increase in these ratios for the peripheral zone was detected in cases with prostate cancer. In dynamic MRI, the curve for the peak enhancement time had a higher slope, and contrast washout time was shorter in tumorous structure of tumor positive cases compared with the tumor negative cases.

Conclusion: In conclusion, endorectal MRI, which also enables MRS and dynamic imaging, is an important and effective diagnostic tool for prostate pathologies.