MR Spectroscopy of Prostate Cancer: Current Practices and Techniques

摘要

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in American men. TheAmerican Cancer Society estimates that in 2006, 234 460 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States, and 27 350 people will die of the disease (1). Because of the advent of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, most prostate cancers are now diagnosed at an early stage (2-6). The high incidence of low-risk prostate cancer and the slow progression of the disease make it difficult to evaluate the benefits of early diagnosis, and therefore the management of prostate cancer remains challenging. At every stage, from diagnosis, localization, staging, and treatment planning to follow-up, there is a need to maximize information for making treatment decisions. Radical treatment and its associated sequelae must be weighed against the risks of active surveillance of the disease. Noninvasive diagnostic imaging, especially the combination of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with MR spectroscopic imaging, has evolved in recent years and has become an important technique for improving diagnosis, localization, assessment of aggressiveness, treatment planning, and follow-up in patients with prostate cancer (7-17). The goal of this chapter is to provide a brief overview of the current techniques and applications of MR spectroscopy for prostate cancer.