Using hybrid multidimensional MRI exams in lieu of multiparametric MRI for the assessment of prostate cancer could reduce interpretation times while increasing interobserver agreement.
That’s according to a new analysis published in Radiology.
“Hybrid multidimensional MRI (HM-MRI), a quantitative method, provides tissue percentage estimates based on MRI data by exploiting the interdependence of measured ADC and T2 values,” Grace H. Lee, from the Department of Radiology at the Sanford J. Grossman Center of Excellence in Prostate Imaging and Image Guided Therapy, and colleagues explained.
HM-MRI provides data used to measure volume fractions of the lumen, epithelium, and stroma, as well as the ADC and T2 values relative to each volume fraction. Experts recently completed HM-MRI and multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) on 61 men with biopsy-confirmed prostate cancer to evaluate whether radiologist performance differed when interpreting each exam.
Four radiologists participated in the analysis. The experts noted better per patient specificity in three out of four radiologists with HM-MRI and higher per patient AUC for the reader who was least experienced in interpreting the exam. Interobserver agreement was higher with HM-MRI and interpretation times were also shorter compared to mpMRI (73 seconds ± 43 vs 254 seconds ± 133).
Due to the variability of PI-RADS categorization based on prostate MR imaging, Baris Turkbey, MD, from the Molecular Imaging Branch of the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, suggests that the quantitative nature of HM-MRI analysis could provide more objective measures.
“Quantitative prostate MRI methods have an important potential to enable objective, consistent performance for lesion detection and characterization tasks during radiology readouts,” Turkbey wrote. “The HM-MRI pulse sequence can further assist the current efforts for optimizing prostate MRI acquisition and interpretation.”
The authors suggested that further studies are needed to validate their promising findings.
View the study abstract here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.