Prostate Cancer - 3-D Diagnosis and Targeted Focal Therapy

International Program for 3-D Diagnosis & Therapy of Prostate Cancer

IMAGING

Ultrasound is a high frequency sound that cannot be detected by human hearing. Ultrasound medical imaging is a technique that uses repetitive high frequency sound waves which are directed towards the human body and detected by a special probe when they bounce back. This technique works similar to the ultrasound system used by bats for directing their flight and hunting. Ultrasound is used to visualize internal organs, even fetuses, to capture their size, outline, structure and some times pathological lesions in real time. Ultrasound can identify anatomical borders of the prostate gland, but cannot discriminate between benign versus malignant prostatic tissue. However, ultrasound helps to identify the prostate gland when doing biopsies.

 

Other prostate imaging modalities currently used such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), x-ray computed tomography (CT scan), positron emission tomography (PET), and single photon emission tomography (SPECT) do not provide reliable information regarding cancer identification either. Combining imaging modalities such as MRI/CT, PET/CT, SPECT/MRI/CT have demonstrated some success in the diagnosis of advanced disease; however, they have consistently failed to identify small localized cancers (≤1cc) within the prostate. Consequently, many cancers are missed and often are spread beyond the prostate gland when finally diagnosed.

 

Even though prostate cancer may be diagnosed at an early stage, conventional transrectal ultrasound guided needle biopsies (TRUS) often fail to provide accurate Gleason grade and stage (focality and extension) of the disease due to sampling errors. However, the combination of 3D ultrasound imaging and pathology of mapping biopsies is the only approach that has demonstrated the highest assessment for disease grading and stage.

 

Optical biopsies – This is a research technique that uses wavelengths of light to directly examine prostatic tissue and assist in proper lesion identification. If prostatic carcinoma can be identified in real-time and in vivo, then additional prostate biopsies can be directed to these locations to determine the highest cancer grade as well as the extent of the disease.  [ Read more - PDF file ] [ Article: Optical biopsy shines light on prostate cancer ]


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(Last Edition: July 21, 2019)

  

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