Magnetic Resonance Imaging Underestimation of Prostate Cancer Geometry: Use of Patient Specific Molds to Correlate Images with Whole Mount Pathology

Purpose: We evaluated the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging in determining the size and shape of localized prostate cancer.

Materials and methods: The subjects were 114 men who underwent multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging before radical prostatectomy with patient specific mold processing of the specimen from 2013 to 2015. T2-weighted images were used to contour the prostate capsule and cancer suspicious regions of interest. The contours were used to design and print 3-dimensional custom molds, which permitted alignment of excised prostates with magnetic resonance imaging scans. Tumors were reconstructed in 3 dimensions from digitized whole mount sections. Tumors were then matched with regions of interest and the relative geometries were compared.

Results: Of the 222 tumors evident on whole mount sections 118 had been identified on magnetic resonance imaging. For the 118 regions of interest mean volume was 0.8 cc and the longest 3-dimensional diameter was 17 mm. However, for matched pathological tumors, of which most were Gleason score 3 + 4 or greater, mean volume was 2.5 cc and the longest 3-dimensional diameter was 28 mm. The median tumor had a 13.5 mm maximal extent beyond the magnetic resonance imaging contour and 80% of cancer volume from matched tumors was outside region of interest boundaries. Size estimation was most accurate in the axial plane and least accurate along the base-apex axis.

Conclusions: Magnetic resonance imaging consistently underestimates the size and extent of prostate tumors. Prostate cancer foci had an average diameter 11 mm longer and a volume 3 times greater than T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging segmentations. These results may have important implications for the assessment and treatment of prostate cancer.