Prostate Research Group
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men and remains the second-leading cause of cancer death in men. The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test disseminated 20 years ago and helped shift the disease stage at the time of diagnosis to a much lower and potentially more curable stage. However, PSA testing causes a lot of unnecessary biopsies and still misses clinically significant cancers.
Recently multi-parametric Magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) was shown to reduce unnecessary biopsies and decrease the number of missed cancers. Reading mpMRI is an expert skill. Our research focusses on exploring medical image analysis technology that can help improve mpMRI reading.
Another new development is a mpMRI-guided biopsy. To confirm the mpMRI diagnosis with a pathology analysis requires the ability to target mpMRI detected lesions. A cost-effective and convenient solution is to use transrectal ultrasound (TRUS). mpMRI guided TRUS biopsies are again an expert skill, mainly because relocating a lesion on ultrasound is difficult as the current technology for aligning mpMRI and TRUS is far from perfect. Our research focusses on exploring medical image analysis technology that can help improve biopsy.
The latest development is the ability of nano-MRI to detect lymph node metastasis. A reliable assessment of absence of positive lymph nodes has huge implications for survival and treatment options. Nano-MRI is a time-consuming task requiring expert reading skills. Our research focusses on exploring medical image analysis technology that can help improve nano-MRI reading.
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