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Depiction of periprostatic nerve fibers by means of 1.5 T diffusion tensor imaging

  • Special Section : Male pelvis
  • Published:
Abdominal Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The knowledge of periprostatic nerve fiber (pNF) is still incomplete by means of conventional MRI. The purpose of our study was to demonstrate if DTI imaging is able to depict anatomical features of pNF.

Methods

For this retrospective study, fifty-six patients (mean age 63.5 years), who underwent 1.5-T prostate MRI, including 32 directions DTI, were enrolled between October 2014 and December 2018. ANOVA test and Student’s t-test were performed between the mean values of the number, FA values, and fiber length of pNF between base and mid-gland, mid-gland and apex, base and apex, right and left side, and anterior and posterior face of the prostate. A qualitative analysis was performed to detect the main orientation of pNF through a colorimetric 3D tractographic reconstruction.

Results

The number of pNF showed a decrease from the base (322) to mid-gland (248) and apex (75) (p < 0.05). The FA values were higher at base and mid-gland (0.435 and 0.456) compared to the apex (0.313) (p < 0.05). The length of pNF was higher at apex (13.4 mm) compared to base (11.5 mm) and mid-gland (11.7 mm) (p < 0.05). The number of pNF was higher on the posterior face compared to the anterior face at base (186 vs 137), (p < 0.001). The FA values were higher on the posterior face compared to the anterior face at base (0.452 vs 0.417), mid-gland (0.483 vs 0.429), and apex (0.42 vs 0.382), (p < 0.05). The length of the pNF was higher in the posterior (14.7 mm) than in the anterior face (12 mm) at apex (p < 0.001). The main orientation of pNF was longitudinal in all patients (56/56, 100%).

Conclusions

DTI imaging has been demonstrated able to depict anatomical features of pNF.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Radioterapia Oncologica ed Ematologia, UOC di Radiologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCSS, Roma, Italy

    Valerio Di Paola, Benedetta Gui, Maura Miccò, Elena Rodolfino, Giacomo Avesani & Camilla Panico

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Gastroenterologiche, Endocrino-Metaboliche e Nefro-Urologiche, UOC di Urologia-Nefrologia e Trapianto, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCSS, Roma, Italy

    Angelo Totaro

  3. Istituto di Radiologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy

    Riccardo Gigli

  4. Dipartimento di Radiologia, Policlinico G.B. Rossi – Università di Verona, Verona, Italy

    Adam Cybulski

  5. Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Radioterapia Oncologica ed Ematologia, UOC di Radioterapia Oncologica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCSS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy

    Vincenzo Valentini

  6. Dipartimento di Scienze Gastroenterologiche, Endocrino-Metaboliche e Nefro-Urologiche, UOC di Urologia-Nefrologia e Trapianto, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCSS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy

    PierFrancesco Bassi

  7. Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Radioterapia Oncologica ed Ematologia, UOC Radiologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCSS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy

    Riccardo Manfredi

Authors
  1. Valerio Di Paola
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  2. Angelo Totaro
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  3. Benedetta Gui
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  7. Camilla Panico
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  8. Riccardo Gigli
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  9. Adam Cybulski
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  10. Vincenzo Valentini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valerio Di Paola.

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The authors declare that they have no funding or conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the study was approved by our institutional review board, and written informed consent was obtained for all MRI examinations.

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Di Paola, V., Totaro, A., Gui, B. et al. Depiction of periprostatic nerve fibers by means of 1.5 T diffusion tensor imaging. Abdom Radiol 46, 2760–2769 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-020-02682-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-020-02682-5

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