Title MRI of prostatic cancer: in vivo and in vitro MRI results

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the prostate was accomplished in 23 patients who had prostatic cancer histologically proved by needle biopsy. Five prostates resected out of 23 patients with prostatic cancer were available for in vitro MRI. The MRI findings of the normal peripheral zone of the prostate had a high signal intensity on T2 weighted image, and the cancer nests in the peripheral zone had lower signal intensity than the normal peripheral zone. A partial or total destruction of the border line between outer zone and inner zone was observed besides than microscopic invasions. MRI also enabled us to differentiate the cancerous foci from the normal tissue at a different signal intensity of imaging in some selected cases in which the resected specimen was examined by in vitro MRI. MRI thus appears to be of clinical value in local staging of the prostatic cancer.