Development and Validation of Novel MRI Methods for the Detection of Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness (PROAG)

Prostate cancer is one of the most common neoplastic diseases in men. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) has only a limited role in the diagnosis and characterization of prostate cancer. The diagnosis of prostate cancer is still most commonly done by transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) guided biopsy. However, TRUS guided biopsy carries a risk of increase in complications. There is an increasing interest in developing more accurate non-invasive imaging modalities which could potentially detect prostate cancer aggressiveness.

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and rotating frame relaxation measurements have shown to be particularly promising in prostate cancer detection and characterization. This study which focuses on further development and validation of DWI and rotating frame relaxation measurements will enroll 200 men with histologically diagnosed prostate cancer who will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before prostatectomy. Anatomical MRI and novel acquisition methods focusing on DWI and rotating frame relaxation measurements will be performed using surface coils to non-invasively detect and characterize prostate cancer.