by
Carol Ko, Staff Writer | December 26, 2012
MRI-ultrasound fusion technology
may be the key to better prostate cancer detection
A new imaging device developed by UCLA scientists may help health professionals more accurately diagnose prostate cancer, according to a study published by the Journal of Urology. Due to the limitations of traditional two-dimensional ultrasound, doctors previously took random, systematic biopsies from the entire prostate, leading to delayed diagnoses.
Researchers from the UCLA urology, radiology, pathology and biomedical engineering departments teamed up with medical device company Eigen Inc. to develop a new device that combines magnetic resonance imaging with three-dimensional ultrasound. The new technology now allows doctors to obtain biopsies from targeted, suspicious lesions in the organ, helping them detect and diagnose cancer with greater accuracy and speed.
The study followed 171 men who underwent prostate cancer biopsies. Based on a study of lesions outlined by the new imaging technology, a uroradiologist assigned cancer suspicion levels on a scale of 1 to 5. MRI prostate scans were used to generate a three-dimensional image that fused with real-time ultrasound images, providing an accurate roadmap that guided biopsy needles into targeted areas.
According to the study, a targeted biopsy using the new technology was three times more likely to identify cancer than a blind biopsy, and overall, the level of suspicion assigned to lesions correlated with cancer diagnosis.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among men, and though approximately 240,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed every year, not all of these cases are deadly. Some smaller cancers grow at such a slow rate that they may never require serious treatment. In the future, new MRI-ultrasound fusion technology may help doctors better distinguish between low-risk cases and more serious diagnoses.
Targeted biopsies may be particularly beneficial for men who have had persistent and unexplained high levels of prostate-specific antigen, low-risk prostate cancer that needs to be kept under surveillance, or who have had inconclusive biopsy results in the past.
