Table 1 Technical requirements for multiparametric prostate MRI according to PI-RADS v. 2.1 guidelines
From: Understanding PI-QUAL for prostate MRI quality: a practical primer for radiologists
| Â | Imaging planes | Slice thickness | FOV | In-plane dimension | Specific recommendations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
T2w imaging | Same used for DWI and DCE | 3 mm | 12–20 cma |  ≤ 0.7 mm (phase) ×  ≤ 0.4 mm (frequency) | Axial plane: either straight axial to the patient or in an oblique axial plane matching the long axis of the prostate | At least one additional orthogonal plane (sagittal and/or coronal) | 3D axial as an adjunct to 2D acquisitions |
| Â | Â | No gap | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
DWI | Same used for T2w imaging and DCE |  ≤ 4 mm | 16–22 cm |  ≤ 2.5 mm (phase and frequency) | Low b value: 50–100 s/mm2 | Intermediate b value: 800–1000 s/mm2 | High b value |
|  |  | No gap |  |  |  |  | Dedicated (≥ 1400 s/mm2) |
| Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Synthesised (from other b values) |
DCE | Same used for T2w imaging and DWI | 3 mm | No specific recommendationsa |  ≤ 2 mm (phase and frequency) | Temporal resolution ≤ 15 s | GBCA: 0.1 mmol/kg | Fat suppression |
|  |  | No gap |  |  |  | Injection rate: 2–3 cc/s |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |  | Observation rate  ≥ 2 min |  |