STAGING OF PROSTATE-CANCER - RESULTS OF RADIOLOGY DIAGNOSTIC ONCOLOGYGROUP PROJECT COMPARISON OF 3 MR-IMAGING TECHNIQUES

PURPOSE: To assess accuracy of three different magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques, including the endorectal coil, in staging prostat e cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR imaging was performed in 213 patie nts with prostate cancer with a conventional body coil, with fat suppr ession and a body coil, and with an endorectal coil. Radiologists iden tified tumor invasion into periprostatic tissues, neurovascular bundle s, and seminal vesicles. Each technique was evaluated separately, and in a subset of 74 patients the three techniques were evaluated togethe r. Images obtained with the two body-coil techniques were read in comb ination with images obtained with the endorectal coil (combination A) and alone (combination B). RESULTS: Overall accuracy for conventional body-coil, fat-suppressed body-coil, and endorectal-coil MR was 61%, 6 4%, and 54%, respectively. Overall group accuracy for combinations A a nd B was 57% and 61%. Considerable interreader variability was found f or combination A. CONCLUSION: No technique was highly accurate for sta ging early prostate cancer. Individual radiologists did achieve a high degree of staging accuracy with the endorectal-coil and body-coil com bination.