Photoacoustic Ultrasound Imaging to Distinguish Benign from Malignant Prostate Cancer
Abstract
The American Cancer Society predicts that 233,000 American men will be newly diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014 and over 2.5 million men who have been diagnosed with the disease are alive today. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing is the clinical standard for diagnosing prostate cancer and over 90% of men with PSA detected prostate cancer will undergo early treatment. It is predicted that approximately 1 cancer death is avoided per 1,000 men screened, while 1%-7% of men will suffer serious complications from treatment. The objective of this research is to develop new technologies for staging newly diagnosed prostate cancer so that unnecessary treatments can be avoided. Ultrasound imaging uses sound waves at frequencies above the human hearing range to image organs within the body. An ultrasound transducer delivers a pulse of acoustic energy into the area of interest and listens for the echoes that return as the sound waves bounce off of tissue structures in the body. Unfortunately, it is difficult to distinguish cancer from the surrounding healthy tissue. When tumors are visible, ultrasound images are unable to discriminate between benign or malignant cancers. In photoacoustic imaging, laser energy is transmitted into the tissue, absorbed, and an ultrasound wave is released. The wavelength (color) of the laser light can be adjusted to image specific structures within the tissue such as fat, blood vessels, or implanted metal objects. Unfortunately, laser energy cannot penetrate deep into the body, and photoacoustic imaging of the entire prostate is not possible using an external laser source. Here, we propose to develop a photoacoustic ultrasound system that is small enough to travel up the urethra and image the prostate from the inside out. This will allow us to produce high resolution ultrasound images and distinguish between tumors that are poorly (benign) or excessively (malignant) vascularized. This proposal will address two overarching challenges, the primary goal is to develop tools to distinguish aggressive from indolent disease in men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer. Since the proposed transurethral approach is minimally invasive and does not cause damage to local tissue, this system could readily be adapted as a tool for early detection of clinically relevant disease. My career goal is to conduct high-impact research at the intersection of engineering and medicine. The training plan will help me to achieve these goals by providing additional training in cancer imaging, biology, and medical device design. Additionally, I will have the opportunity to shadow clinicians working with prostate cancer patients in a world-class institution and be trained on the use of the latest imaging and diagnostic systems. The research plan will help me achieve my career goals by building on my expertise in cancer detection and focal ablation and adding new expertise in cancer imaging. By the end of this fellowship, I will have established a clear and coherent research agenda for advancing clinical tools for detecting, staging, and treating prostate cancer using minimally invasive technologies. The proposed research is directly applicable to patients who have been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. It will help physicians develop accurate treatment plans for patients with aggressive disease and identify patients who would otherwise receive unnecessary interventions. This work will provide an intermediate step between PSA screening and invasive biopsy, which could drastically reduce the number of unnecessary procedures performed. If successful, this research has relatively low barriers to entry and could be adapted to clinical practice very rapidly.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 04, 2016
- Source ID
- W81XWH1510137
Entities
People
- Michael B Sano
Organizations
- Stanford University
- United States Army