Abstract
The principle of dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) applying in tumor detection is based on tumor angiogenesis. DCE-MRI can noninvasively assess tissue vascularity by injecting contrast agent and time intensity curve can be obtained then analyzed by quantitative or semi-quantitative approach. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a benign condition with hyper-vascularity within the TZ. This benign condition makes that detecting prostate in the transitional zone (TZ) is still a challenge. The hypothesis in this study is that tumor vascular heterogeneity could help to discriminate the TZ prostate cancer from BPH. In this study, histogram analysis in wash in slope map and delay phase slope map were carried out on the DCE-MRI data of the patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. Several indexes were evaluated to investigate the efficiency on differentiating prostate cancer from BPH.