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Prostate Cancer Evaluated with Ferumoxtran-10–enhanced T2*-weighted MR Imaging at 1.5 and 3.0 T: Early Experience¹

¹ From the Departments of Radiology (R.A.M.H., J.J.F., T.W.J.S., Y.L.H., J.O.B.) and Medical Technology Assessment (A.M.H.), University Medical Center Nijmegen, Geert Grooteplein zuid 10, NL 6500 HB, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; and Department of Radiology, Catharina Hospital, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (H.C.M.v.d.B.). From the 2004 RSNA Annual Meeting. Received March 11, 2005; revision requested May 3; revision received May 26; accepted June 21; final version accepted August 1. Supported by ZonMw The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development. Address correspondence to R.A.M.H. (e-mail: r.heesakkers{at}rad.umcn.nl).

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate the feasibility of ferumoxtran-10–enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging at high magnetic field strength (3.0 T) and to compare image quality between 1.5- and 3.0-T MR imaging in terms of lymph node detection in patients with prostate cancer.

Materials and Methods: This study was institutional review board approved, and all patients gave written informed consent. Forty-eight consecutive patients aged 51–79 years (mean, 65.5 years) with prostate cancer were enrolled. T2*-weighted 1.5- and 3.0-T MR images of the pelvis were acquired in a sagittal plane parallel to the psoas muscle 24 hours after ferumoxtran-10 administration. A pelvic and body phased-array coil was used and yielded an in-plane resolution of 0.56 x 0.56 x 3.00 mm at 1.5 T and 0.50 x 0.50 x 2.50 mm at 3.0 T. All images were evaluated by three readers for total image quality, lymph node border delineation, muscle-fat contrast, and vessel-fat contrast. Statistical significance was calculated by using the Mann-Whitney U test. Subsequently, the general linear mixed model was used to estimate the contributions of three factors—patient, reader, and technique—to the variability of the imaging results.

Results: Significantly (P < .05) better muscle-fat contrast, vessel-fat contrast, lymph node border delineation, and total image quality were observed at 3.0-T MR imaging. The general linear mixed model revealed that the variability of all results could be attributed to the use of 3.0-T imaging.

Conclusion: Ferumoxtran-10–enhanced MR imaging can be performed at high magnetic field strengths and result in improved image quality, which may lead to improved detection of small positive lymph nodes.

© RSNA, 2006