Prostate SPORE Project 2

Prostate Imaging by Vibro-acoustography

Principal Investigator: Mostafa Fatemi, Ph.D.

The long-term goal of this research is to develop and validate a new tool for prostate imaging. The new tool, trans-rectal vibro-acoustography (TRVA), will be noninvasive, and capable of producing high resolution and high contrast images, sensitive to tissue stiffness, suitable for clinical and intra-operative imaging applications. In addition, the new tool will be capable of imaging prostate tissue, malignant lesions, and prostate brachytherapy seeds. It is envisioned that TRVA may be used both as a diagnostic tool and as an intra-operative tool for guidance of minimally invasive prostate cancer therapies. The short-term goal is to develop TRVA as a diagnostic tool for prostate imaging and detection of cancer. The rationale of the proposed work is that prostate imaging is best accomplished by using a non-invasive imaging modality that is sensitive to tissue stiffness, providing the means to detect malignant lesions in the prostate in a way that is conceptually similar to digital rectal examination, but with much higher precision. Preliminary results from laboratory and clinical studies support this hypothesis and provide data for optimizing the technology for clinical use via development of a new 3D imaging device.