AUTHOR=Selnæs Kirsten Margrete , Vettukattil Riyas , Bertilsson Helena , Wright Alan J. , Heerschap Arend , Angelsen Anders , Tessem May-Britt , Bathen Tone Frost 

TITLE=Tissue Microstructure Is Linked to MRI Parameters and Metabolite Levels in Prostate Cancer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2016.00146

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2016.00146

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="ST1"><title>Introduction</title><p>Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can portray spatial variations in tumor heterogeneity, architecture, and its microenvironment in a non-destructive way. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between MRI parameters measured on patients <italic>in vivo</italic>, individual metabolites measured in prostatectomy tissue <italic>ex vivo</italic>, and quantitative histopathology.</p></sec><sec id="ST2"><title>Materials and methods</title><p>Fresh frozen tissue samples (<italic>n</italic> = 53 from 15 patients) were extracted from transversal prostate slices and linked to <italic>in vivo</italic> MR images, allowing spatially matching of <italic>ex vivo</italic> measured metabolites with <italic>in vivo</italic> MR parameters. Color-based segmentation of cryosections of each tissue sample was used to identify luminal space, stroma, and nuclei.</p></sec><sec id="ST3"><title>Results</title><p>Cancer samples have significantly lower area percentage of lumen and higher area percentage of nuclei than non-cancer samples (<italic>p</italic> ≤ 0.001). Apparent diffusion coefficient is significantly correlated with percentage area of lumen (ρ = 0.6, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) and percentage area of nuclei (ρ = −0.35, <italic>p</italic> = 0.01). There is a positive correlation (ρ = 0.31, <italic>p</italic> = 0.053) between citrate and percentage area of lumen. Choline is negatively correlated with lumen (ρ = −0.38, <italic>p</italic> = 0.02) and positively correlated with percentage area of nuclei (ρ = 0.38, <italic>p</italic> = 0.02).</p></sec><sec id="ST4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Microstructures that are observed by histopathology are linked to MR characteristics and metabolite levels observed in prostate cancer.</p></sec>