[The use of low-field magnetic resonance tomography in the combined radiodiagnosis of prostatic diseases].

Diagnostic examination of 134 patients with recognized or suspected prostatic lesion comprised: urodynamic tests, excretory urography (EU), transrectal ultrasonography (TU), CT and NMR tomography. EU, TU, CT and NMR were employed in 54 (40%), 123 (92%), 32 (24%) and 114 (85%) patients, respectively. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) stage I and II was diagnosed in 40 (71%) and 16 (28%) examinees, respectively. Prostatic cancer was revealed in 22 (16%) examinees. T2, T3, T4 were staged in 10, 5 and 7 patients, respectively. 32 (24%) patients had chronic prostatitis which was also diagnosed in 12 (21%) BPH patients. It is stated that NMR tomography is not inferior to TU in detecting prostatic lesions having the advantages of ultrasonography and CT. NMR tomography is moderately specific (46%) for prostatic cancer, highly sensitive in identification of BPH and prostatic cancer (83 and 89%, respectively). Of special importance is the capacity of NMR-tomography to visualize involvement of the adjacent organs and regional metastases. This facilitates the disease staging, choice of individual therapeutic policy and subsequent dynamic control.