Prostate Cancer Detection Using High-Spatial Resolution MRI at 7.0 Tesla: Correlation with Histopathologic Findings at Radical Prostatectomy.

摘要

This study aims to develop high spatial-resolution prostate MRI at 7.0T. During this first phase of our study, we aimed to perform technical development and optimization of the necessary hardware and software to be able to perform 7.0T prostate MRI in a clinical setting. Specifically, we aimed to develop a novel surface coil array in conjunction with optimization of turbo- spin echo T2-weighted sequences to achieve high spatial-resolution high SNR images. Our ultimate system employed two transmit-receive elements and six receive-only elements, avoiding parallel transmission and RF shimming, thereby achieving a much simpler design than has been explored by other groups for 7T prostate MRI. This coil design was supplemented by investigation of sequence modifications to overcome challenges related to RF power availability at 7T. In combination, these hardware and software changes led to substantial improvements in image quality. It is hoped that the SNR gain compared to 3T will provide comparable results to 3T endorectal coils, avoiding the need for this comparatively invasive devise. These initial steps are now being followed with testing in prostate cancer patients prior to radial prostatectomy, allowing for pathologic confirmation of our findings.