Prostate Cancer
| Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (1H-MRSI) has been shown to provide useful information in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Specifically, the local concentrations of citrate, choline and creatine, as measured by MRSI, are strongly correlated with the presence and extent of disease. At CFMM, we are interested in the development of 1H-MRSI of the prostate at high field strengths to enable improved imaging resolution and/or scan times compared to what is currently achievable at 1.5 and 3 Tesla. We have developed a set of radiofrequency coils specifically for prostate imaging at 4.0 Tesla, including a six-element, transceive pelvic phased array coil (Shown below), and an endorectal receive-only surface coil (Shown at right). Imaging and spectroscopy results indicate that high resolution MRSI data can be acquired in reasonable scan times using this novel rf coil configuration. Future work will be aimed at extending this technique to an even higher field strength of 7 Tesla. |
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