Differentiation of prostate cancer from benign prostate hypertrophy using dual-echo dynamic contrast MR imaging.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the usefulness of dynamic contrast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the differentiation of prostate cancer (PC) from benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH). MATERIALS AND METHODS Eleven PC patients and 13 BPH patients were entered into the analysis. The mean gradient (MG) was calculated from the T2* term-eliminated time-signal intensity curve obtained from dynamic contrast MR data, and the MG of PC and that of BPH were compared. RESULTS The MG of PC was significantly higher than that of BPH. When the threshold value was set to 1.88% per s for discriminating PC from BPH, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 100, 85, and 92%, respectively. CONCLUSION The MG, which is derived from the T2* term-eliminated time-signal intensity curve, may be a useful index for differentiating PC from BPH.