Imaging Assessment of Primary Prostate Cancer, Focused on Advanced MR Imaging and PET/CT

ABSTRACT

Imaging assessment of prostate cancer is one of the most difficult sections of oncology imaging. Detecting, localizing and staging of the primary prostate cancer by preoperative imaging are still challenging for the radiologist. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging provides excellent soft tissue contrast and is widely used for solid organ imaging, but results of preoperative imaging of the prostate gland with conventional MR imaging is unsatisfactory. Positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) is the cornerstone in oncology imaging, but some limitations prohibit the assessment of primary prostate cancer with PET or PET/CT. Recent studies to overcome these insufficient accuracies of imaging evaluation of primary prostate cancers with advanced MR techniques and PET and PET/CT are reported. In this article, we review the imaging findings of prostate cancer on variable modalities, focused on MR imaging and PET/CT.