Role of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis and staging of urinary bladder cancer

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Objectives To assess the role of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mp-MRI) in the diagnosis and staging of urinary bladder cancer (BC). Materials and methods Fifty patients diagnosed with bladder masses underwent mp-MRI study. The results of 3 image sets were analyzed and compared with the histopathological results as a reference standard: T2-weighted image (T2WI) plus dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE), T2WI plus diffusion-weighted images (DWI), and mp-MRI, including T2WI plus DWI and DCE. The diagnostic accuracy of mp-MRI was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Results The accuracy of T2WI plus DCE for detecting muscle invasion of BC was 79.5% with a fair agreement with histopathological examination ( κ = 0.59); this percentage increased up to 88.6% using T2WI plus DWI, with good agreement with histopathological examination ( κ = 0.74), whereas mp-MRI had the highest overall accuracy (95.4%) and excellent agreement with histopathological data ( κ = 0.83). Multiparametric MRI can differentiate between low- and high-grade bladder tumors with a high sensitivity and specificity of 93.3% and 98.3%, respectively. Conclusions Multiparametric MRI is an acceptable method for the preoperative detection and accurate staging of BC, with reasonable accuracy in differentiating between low- and high-grade BC.