To Determine the Diagnostic Accuracy of Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in the Diagnosis of Prostate Carcinoma Taking Histopathology As the Gold Standard

Introduction Carcinoma of the prostate is the most common malignancy among males. Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and digital rectal examination (DRE) are the initial investigations for the detection of prostate cancer. In recent years, some investigators have used color Doppler ultrasound and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for the diagnosis of prostate cancer and avoided invasive and painful investigation, i.e., biopsy. The purpose of the study is to determine the validity of DWI in detecting prostatic cancer taking histopathology as the gold standard. Material and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted prospectively in the radiology department of a tertiary care hospital from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020. This study was approved by the Departmental Research Committee. A total of 272 male patients were included in our study who have elevated PSA levels (>4.0 ng/ml) with symptoms of hematuria and urinary retention. All included subjects were sent to the radiology department for DWI imaging. The DWI imaging was analyzed for prostate cancer and the results were correlated with histopathological diagnosis. Results The average age of patients was 50.28±9.93 years. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of DWI in the diagnoses of prostate cancer were 86.7%, 87.8%, 75.8%, 93.8%, and 87.5%, respectively. Conclusion DWI is an informative and non-invasive imaging modality with high diagnostic accuracy for the diagnosis of prostate carcinoma.