Related Experiment Videos
[MR tomographic monitoring of prostate carcinoma after cryotherapy: initial results]
H Hawighorst1, J Dörsam, M V Knopp
1Abt. Radiologische Diagnostik und Therapie (dkfz), Universität Heidelberg.
Purpose:
To assess the morphological changes in the prostate gland and adjacent tissue after cryosurgery by high resolution MRI in patients with histological proven prostatic carcinoma.
Method:
15 patients (mean age 66 years) with histologically proven prostate carcinoma underwent T2- and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted high-resolution MRI examinations with fat suppression. Follow-up MRI with an identical imaging protocol were performed at different time intervals (24-72 h, 2-6, 12, 26-52 weeks).
Results:
Mean prostate volume had decreased by 30% in all patients 12-52 weeks after cryosurgery. After cryosurgery, zonal differentiation was lost in all patients with abnormalities in the periprostatic tissue in all patients, and rectal wall thickening in 47% of patients. Cryosurgery-induced changes in the prostate could not be differentiated from tumour recurrence.
Conclusion:
High resolution MRI allows precise recognition of intraprostatic and adjacent tissue alterations after cryosurgery of prostatic carcinoma. However, reliable detection of tumour recurrence was impossible due to cryosurgically induced signal changes.