Diagnostic performance of 3-tesla multiparametric MRI for assessment of the bladder cancer T stage and histologic grade

Abstract Background Preoperative staging of urinary bladder carcinomas using TNM system is crucial in the management of bladder cancer which is determined mainly by stage and grade of tumor at diagnosis. We aim to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of multiparametric MRI (mp-MRI) for assessment of the bladder cancer T stage and histologic grade. Results The overall T2-WI diagnostic accuracy for the T stage was 72.3%, increased to be 87.1% for contrast-enhanced images, and 92.6% for DWI, reaching the maximum accuracy 94.5% using the combined multi-parametric MRI technique. Diagnostic accuracies of mp-MRI in differentiating superficial from muscle-invasive (91%) and organ-confined from non-organ confined tumors (92%) were superior to DW-MRI (89% and 87%), DCE-MRI (84% and 83%), and T2W-MRI (74% and 71%), respectively. The agreement between MRI findings and histopathological staging was greater in mp-MRI (k = 0.91; excellent agreement) than in DW-MRI (k = 0.77; moderate agreement), DCE-MRI (k = 0.76; substantial agreement), and T2W-MRI (k = 0.53; fair agreement). Conclusion Mp-MRI provides useful information for evaluating the local T stages of bladder cancer and can predict the histological grades of urinary bladder cancers with high diagnostic accuracy.