The normal prostate and adjacent soft tissues: State-of-the-art MR imaging at 0.35 T

The authors evaluated the MR imaging appearance of the normal prostate in 63 patients, aged 18-67 years. The internal zone architecture, including the prostatic urethra, the surrounding dark fibrous zone, and the peripheral glandular zone, was clearly demonstrated in every patient when spin-echo sequences (2,000/60, 90, 120) were utilized. A structure surrounding the prostate, believed to be the periprostatic venous plexus, was also always present but notably quite variable in distribution. This plexus and the corpora cavernosa which it drains have identical signal characteristics and phase angle (the blood in both structures is essentially stagnant). The authors did not see a fat plane between the prostate and rectum in any of the subjects. Use of surface coils and high-resolution techniques yielded no additional anatomic information