Prostate cancer has been the most common neoplastic disease in men in Finland over the last ten years. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) has only a limited role in the diagnosis and characterization of prostate cancer (1). The diagnosis of prostate cancer is done by transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) guided biopsy. However, TRUS guided biopsy carries a risk of increase in complications. There is an increasing interest in developing more accurate noninvasive imaging modalities which could potentially detect prostate cancer aggressiveness.

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and rotating frame relaxation measurements have shown to be particularly promising in prostate cancer detection and characterization. This study focuses on further development and validation of DWI and novel rotating frame relaxation measurements will enroll 200 men with histological diagnosed prostate cancer who will undergo MRI examination before prostatectomy. Anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and novel acquisition methods focusing on DWI and rotating frame relaxation measurements will be performed using surface coils to non-invasively detect and characterize prostate cancer.