ENDORECTAL MRI USING A 0.5T MID-FIELD SYSTEM IN THE STAGING OF LOCALIZED PROSTATE-CANCER

The accuracy of high field, endorectal MRI in the staging of localized prostate cancer has been the focus of many previous reports, We prese nt our findings with a mid-field magnet, Twenty-two patients with clin ically localized prostate cancer, were prospectively staged with endor ectal MRI using a 0.5 T magnet. All patients subsequently underwent ra dical prostatectomy and the results of pre-operative MRI staging mere compared with the histological findings, The overall staging accuracy for mid-field, endorectal MRI was 77% (17/22), The sensitivity and spe cificity were 50% (7/14) and 100% (8/8), for diagnosing capsular penet ration and 100% (4/4) and 94% (17/18), for seminal vesicle invasion, T his study demonstrates that as a result of recent developments in mid- field MRI design it is non possible to use these MR systems in conjunc tion with an endorectal probe to stage localized prostate cancer and t hat the accuracy is comparable to previous reports using high-field ma gnets.