MR measurement of luminal water in prostate gland: Quantitative correlation between MRI and histology

PURPOSE: mapping technique, and the corresponding tissue composition in prostate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: decay curves. MR parametric maps were correlated to digitized whole-mount histology sections. Percentage area of tissue components, including luminal space, nuclei, and cytoplasm plus stroma, was measured on the histology sections by using color-based image segmentation. Spearman's rank correlation test was used to evaluate the correlation between MR parameters and the corresponding tissue components, with particular attention paid to the correlation between LWF and percentage area of luminal space. RESULTS: also showed significant correlation (P < 0.05) with percentage area of nuclei. Overall, the strongest correlation was observed between LWF and luminal space (Spearman's coefficient of rank correlation = 0.75, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Results of this study show that LWF measured with MRI is strongly correlated with the fractional amount of luminal space in prostatic tissue. This result suggests that LWI can potentially be applied for evaluation of prostatic diseases in which the extent of luminal space differs between normal and abnormal tissues. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. MAGN. RESON. IMAGING 2017;46:861-869.