Short repetition time diffusion-weighted imaging improves visualization of prostate cancer

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Oncology

Background:

• Prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis relies on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mp-MRI).
• Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a key component of mp-MRI for PCa.
• Optimizing DWI parameters can improve diagnostic accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if short repetition time (TR) DWI enhances diffusion contrast in prostate cancer (PCa) compared to conventional long TR DWI.
• To assess the impact of short TR DWI on image quality and diagnostic performance for PCa detection.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 25 patients with suspected PCa undergoing mp-MRI.
• DWI acquisition with both short TR (1850 ms) and long TR (6000 ms) at b-values 0, 1000, and 2000 s/mm².
• Comparison of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), visual scores, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and diagnostic performance between short and long TR DWI.

Main Results:

• Short TR DWI demonstrated significantly higher CNR and visual scores at b1000 compared to long TR DWI (P=.003 and P=.002).
• At b2000, while SNR and CNR were higher in long TR DWI, diagnostic performance showed superiority with short TR DWI for one reader.
• ADC values showed good correlation and no significant bias between short and long TR DWI.

Conclusions:

• Short TR DWI (DWI₁₀₀₀) offers improved image quality and visualization for PCa compared to long TR DWI.
• This technique holds potential to enhance the diagnostic performance of radiologists in detecting prostate cancer.