Volumetric 3D T2-Weighted Sequence of the Prostate (SPACE): Comparison with Conventional 2D T2 for Image Quality and Tumor Detection

Jeffry M. Neil¹, Andrew Rosenkrantz¹, Xiangtian Kong², Jonathan Melamed², Samir Taneja³, Herbert Lepor³, Bachir Taouli¹

The objective of our study was to compare a recently developed 3D T2WI sequence (SPACE) with conventional multiplanar TSE T2WI in terms of image quality, tumor detection and prostate-to-tumor contrast in prostate cancer patients undergoing prostatectomy. Our preliminary results (n=10) show that the SPACE sequence had equivalent subjective image quality, higher prostate-to-tumor ratio, and slightly higher accuracy for tumor detection, compared to conventional TSE T2WI. SPACE sequence may potentially be used as a replacement of conventional multiplanar T2WI, with the benefit of substantially shorter acquisition time.