Grant: Proof of Principle Program - Phase I

Prostate cancer is diagnosed when the biopsy results confirm the presence of cancerous cells. Prostate cancer biopsy involves collecting tissue cores from the prostate using a needle under trans-rectal ultrasound guidance. The goal of the radiologist who performs the biopsy is to provide a random sampling of the prostate, as cancer can appear anywhere in the prostate. The goal of this project is to develop an ultrasound transducer that, in addition to conventional ultrasound images, provides a quantitative map of the prostate stiffness. Such a quantitative map of the tissue stiffness is called an elastography image, and can be thought of as being an objective form of palpation. With ultrasound elastography images, a radiologist can target biopsies to cover more of the stiffer tissue or tissue with variable stiffness, instead of trying to find cancer in a random manner. As cancer has been shown to be stiffer than normal tissue, it is hoped that such an approach will be more effective at finding cancer, thus reducing the number of biopsies required.