Research and Reports in Urology (Jun 2022)
Association Between Prostate Size and MRI Determined Quantitative Prostate Zonal Measurements
Abstract
Jake Sellers,1 Rachel Wagstaff,1 Naseem Helo,2 Werner TW de Riese1 1Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center - School of Medicine, Department of Urology, Lubbock, TX, 79430-7260, USA; 2University Medical Center - Department of Radiology, Lubbock, TX, 79415, USACorrespondence: Werner TW de Riese, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center – Department of Urology, 3601 4 th Street, Lubbock, TX, 79430-7260, USA, Tel +1 806-743-3862, Fax +1 806-743-3030, Email [email protected]: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCa) are the two most prevalent and common urologic diseases impacting elderly men. The current literature has well documented an inverse relationship between prostate/BPH-size and incidence of PCa, but the exact interaction between these two disease entities is not well understood. The purpose of this study is to analyze prostatic zonal measurements with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in order to investigate the dynamic changes of the transition zone (TZ) and peripheral zone (PZ) in response to prostate/BPH growth.Methods: Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) scans of 430 consecutive male patients aged 18– 89 years were obtained to measure the different zonal areas of the prostate. The data were statistically analyzed to identify specific associations between the different measurement parameters and total prostate volume (TPV).Results: The Mann–Whitney U-test showed a significant decline of the average peripheral zone thickness (PZT) (z = − 4.5665, p < 0.0001) in larger prostates when compared to smaller prostates. The Spearman correlation between TPV and PZT demonstrated a significant negative correlation (− 0.20, p < 0.0001).Conclusion: The data revealed that PZT was significantly smaller in the subgroup of patients with higher TPV. This supports the hypothesis of PZ compression and thinning caused by the growing and expanding TZ in BPH prostates. This dynamic growth-related process in the different prostatic zones may explain the protective effect of BPH against PCa.Keywords: BPH, MRI imaging, peripheral zone, central gland, measurements
