Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI of the Prostate: Can Auto-Generated Wash-in Color Map Be Useful in Detecting Focal Lesion Enhancement?

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefulness of wash-in color map in detecting early enhancement of prostate focal lesion compared to whole dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DEC MRI) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study engaged 50 prostate cancer patients who underwent multiparametric MRI and radical prostatectomy as subjects. An expert [R1] and a trainee [R2] independently evaluated early enhancement and recorded the time needed to review 1) a wash-in color map and 2) whole DCE MRI images. RESULTS: The review of whole DCE images by R1 showed fair agreement with color map by R1, whole images by R2, and color map by R2 (weighted kappa values = 0.59, 0.44, and 0.58, respectively). Both readers took a significantly shorter time to review the color maps as compared to whole images (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: A trainee could achieve better agreement with an expert when using wash-in color maps than when using whole DCE MRI images. Also, color maps took a significantly shorter evaluation time than whole images.