Prostate MRS

The prostate lends itself to MRS due to its unique production, storage, and secretion of citrate. While healthy prostate tissue demonstrates high levels of citrate and low levels of choline that marks cell wall turnover, prostate cancer (PCA) utilizes citrate for energy metabolism and shows high levels of choline. The ratio of (choline + creatine)/citrate differentiates healthy prostate tissue and PCA. The combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 3-dimensional MRS (3D-MRSI or 3D-CSI) of the prostate localizes PCA to a sextant of the peripheral zone of the prostate with sensitivity/specificity of up to 80/80%.

Further reading-

Radiologe 2003 Jun;43(6):481-8.

Eur J Radiol 2007 Sep;63(3):351-60. Epub 2007 Aug 20