Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging: an alternative method to differentiate the prostate diseases

Differentiation of prostate hyperplasia, prostatitis and prostate cancerremains challenge using conventional MR techniques, especially for prostatitis and prostate cancer. This study evaluates the value of Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging to differentiate these diseases. Results of this study indicate that ADC value has no significant difference, but Fraction of Fast ADC-Mono and Fraction of Fast ADC-Bi shows significant difference between prostate hyperplasia vs prostate cancer. Slow ADC-Bi values shows difference between prostatitis vs prostate cancer. In summary, IVIM combined with different fitting scheme is potentially a promising and valuable method for differentiation of prostate hyperplasia, prostatitis and prostate cancer.