Project 171074

With the exception of non-melanomatous skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third highest cause of cancer related mortality in men. It is found at autopsy in 40% of men at the age of 60, and almost 90% at age 90. Worldwide, it is the second leading cause of death due to cancer in men, accounting for between 2.1% and 15.2% of all cancer deaths. In Canada, in 2007, over 22,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer (over 25% of all male cancers) and over 4,000 (over 10% of all male cancer deaths) died from the disease. A team of investigators at the Robarts Research Institute have invented technologies for use in diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Together with collaborators at the London Health Sciences Centre, the London Regional Cancer Centre and the Princess Margaret Hospital, the team is focused on developing a new system for focal treatment of prostate cancer. Focal therapy of the prostate (the male equivalent of breast lumpectomy) has the potential to treat early prostate cancer effectively without some of the life altering complications associated with surgery and other forms of prostate therapy. Thus, we propose to develop and validate an accurate, precise and adjustable focal prostate therapy/biopsy platform, in which all aspects of the procedure are carried out intra-operatively including planning, monitoring of prostate changes, dynamic re-planning and optimal needle guidance including oblique trajectories. The first therapy approaches to be tested will be cryotherapy and laser ablation.

developing and validating a 3D ultrasound-guided focal therapy platform for prostate cancer