Combined <11>^C-Choline PET with high-resolution MRI : Development for T- and N-Stage Assessment in Patients with Prostate Cancer.

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We evaluated the preliminary result of combined <11>^C-choline PET and CT or MRI for T- and N-stage assessments in candidates for radical prostatectomy due to biopsy-proven prostatic cancer. Thirty-four pathologically diagnosed prostate cancer patients prospectively underwent <11>^C-choline PET, unenhanced whole-body MDCT and pelvic MRI prior to surgical resection. Then, a board-certified radiologist and a nuclear medicine physician assessed T- and N-stage in each patient on combined PET with CT or MRI (combined PET-CT/MRI), and final diagnosis in each patient was made by consensus of two readers. When all images were evaluated, readers were unaware of any clinical information and histological results. Then, assessed T- and N-stage in each patient were compared with each T- and N-stages based on pathological results, and diagnostic tendency were determined. Thirty-two cases underwent radical prostatectomies, and two cases were underwent exploratory laparotomies due to a detection of pelvic lymph nodes metastases. Postoperative T staging were pT2b (n=13), pT3a (n=8), pT3b (n=1), and pT4 (n=10). On T-stage assessment, combined PET-CT/MRI could correctly diagnose in all patients with pT2b and pT3a, whereas this method could not correctly diagnose in patients with pT3b and pT4. On N-stage assessment, all lymph node metastases, whose short axis diameters were more than 7mm, were correctly diagnosed on combined PET-CT/MRI. Our preliminary result suggests that combined PET-CT/MRI might be useful for T- and N-stage assessments in patients with prostatic cancer. We presented the result on 12^<th> Asian Oceanian Congress of Radiology. Further studies are needed to clarify the usefulness of this method.