A combined anatomical and disease based MRI atlas of the prostate

A new framework was introduced, the anatomically constrained registration (AnCoR) scheme and it was applied to create a fused anatomic-disease atlas of the prostate which the authors refer to as the prostatome. The prostatome combines a MRI based anatomic and a histology based disease atlas. Statistical imaging atlases allow for the integration of information across multiple scales and imaging modalities into a single canonical representation, in turn enabling a fused anatomical-disease representation which may facilitate the characterization of disease appearance relative to anatomic structures. While statistical atlases have been extensively developed and studied for the brain, approaches that have attempted to combine pathology and imaging data for study of prostate pathology are not extant.

Computational imaging reveals shape differences between normal and malignant prostates on MRI

We seek to characterize differences in the shape of the prostate and the central gland (combined central and transitional zones) between men with biopsy confirmed prostate cancer and men who were identified as not having prostate cancer either on account of a negative biopsy or had pelvic imaging done for a non-prostate malignancy. T2w MRI from 70 men were acquired at three institutions. The cancer positive group (PCa+) comprised 35 biopsy positive (Bx+) subjects from three institutions (Gleason scores: 6-9, Stage: T1-T3). The negative group (PCa-) combined 24 biopsy negative (Bx-) from two institutions and 11 subjects diagnosed with rectal cancer but with no clinical or MRI indications of prostate cancer (Cl-). The boundaries of the prostate and central gland were delineated on T2w MRI by two expert raters and were used to construct statistical shape atlases for the PCa+, Bx- and Cl- prostates. An atlas comparison was performed via per-voxel statistical tests to localize shape differences (significance assessed at p < 0.05). The atlas comparison revealed central gland hypertrophy in the Bx- subpopulation, resulting in significant volume and posterior side shape differences relative to PCa+ group. Significant differences in the corresponding prostate shapes were noted at the apex when comparing the Cl- and PCa+ prostates.