Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI and MR diffusion imaging to distinguish between glandular and stromal prostatic tissues

Purpose pare peak enhancement (PE), determined from dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the magnetic resonance (MR) directionally-averaged apparent diffusion coefficient (<D>) in glandular versus stromal prostatic tissues and, with this comparison, to infer if the hypothesis that gadolinium-DTPA (Gd-DTPA) does not enter healthy glands or ducts is plausible. als and Methods R spectroscopic imaging, DCE MRI and MR diffusion were evaluated in 17 untreated subjects with suspected or proven prostate cancer. PE and <D> were compared in glandular-ductal tissues [normal peripheral zone and glandular benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)] and stromal-low ductal tissues (central gland/mixed BPH and stromal BPH). s andular-ductal tissues had lower PE [125±6.4 (% baseline)] and higher <D> [1.57±0.15 (s/10−3 mm2)] than the stromal-low ductal tissues [PE=132±5.5 (% baseline) (P<.0008), <D>=1.18±0.20 (s/10−3 mm2) (P<1×10−8)]. A statistical model based upon stepwise regression was generated and completely separated the tissue types: ductal Measure = 448+669×<D> (s/10−3 mm2)−10.7×PE (1/%), R2=1.0 and P<8×10−10. sions ry different MR results in the glandular-ductal versus stromal-low ductal tissues suggest that these tissues have different underlying structure. These results support the hypothesis that Gd-DTPA does not enter healthy prostatic glands or ducts. This may explain the higher PE and lower <D> that previously have been reported in prostate cancer versus healthy tissue.