Characterization of the Human Prostate by In Vivo 31P MR Spectroscopic Imaging at 7 Tesla

Miriam Lagemaat¹, Thiele Kobus¹, Stephan Orzada², Andreas Bitz², Arend Heerschap¹, Tom Scheenen^1,2

The phosphorus metabolites present in the prostate and surrounding tissues of a healthy volunteer were studied by ³¹P magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging at 7 Tesla with an endorectal transceiver coil. The spectral resolution was high enough to distinguish the various compounds in the phoshpomonoester (PME) and phosphodiester (PDE) region. Separate resonances in the range of inorganic phosphate probably originate from compartments with different pH, but may arise from other compounds as well.