Pros and Cons of High-Performance Gradient Enabled Short-TE Prostate DWI: A Prospective Study

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Oncology

Background:

• High-performance gradients enable shorter echo times (TE) in diffusion-weighted prostate MRI.
• Short TE may enhance lesion conspicuity but potentially alter apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of TE on prostate diffusion-weighted images.
• Assess the influence of TE on lesion conspicuity and ADC diagnostic performance.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study of 55 patients undergoing prostate MRI on 3T scanners.
• Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) acquired at two TEs (41 ms and 70 ms) with high b-values.
• Lesion conspicuity, image quality, and ADC values assessed by independent readers.

Main Results:

• Image quality and lesion conspicuity were significantly higher at TE = 41 ms for high b-value images.
• ADC-based area under the curve for lesion characterization decreased from 0.80 (TE = 70 ms) to 0.70 (TE = 41 ms).

Conclusions:

• Shortening TE to 41 ms enhances lesion conspicuity in high b-value prostate DWI.
• This shorter TE negatively impacts the diagnostic performance of the ADC for prostate cancer detection.