3D Prostate Cancer Imaging Based on "Crawling Wave" Excitation

描述(申请人提供)：前列腺癌的准确检测是当务之急，因为它是男性中最常见的癌症，也是成年男性癌症死亡的第二大原因。图像引导的活检、近距离放射治疗、消融和容量评估都得益于前列腺癌成像的重大改进。该项目结合了罗切斯特大学(UR)、通用电气全球研究院(GE)和伦萨勒理工学院(RPI)三家机构的专业知识，创建并评估了一种适用于前列腺癌的新型3D成像扫描仪。成像是基于新发现的爬行波现象，爬行波是一组干扰的剪切波，可以使用多普勒频谱技术实时可视化。爬行波的局部行为与局部组织的生物力学特性密切相关，因此取决于细胞和细胞内基质的状态。以前的研究已经令人信服地证明，许多前列腺癌和周围的非癌组织之间存在着巨大的生物力学对比；这种对比可以通过各种弹性成像技术进行成像。爬行波现象加上原位激发和先进的估计技术，现在使生物力学特性的实时成像达到了一个新的定量精度水平，分辨率比以前更高。这项新技术的资助和临床应用的整个过程由Deborah J.Rubens医学博士作为PI监督。首席研究员Kevin J.Parker负责协调和整合三家机构(UR、GE、RPI)的技术，以实现里程碑，并提供可用于评估人类前列腺的有效临床仪器。首席调查员凯·汤姆尼乌斯领导通用电气创建工作扫描仪的工作，首席调查员乔伊斯·麦克劳克林领导RPI开发具有结果图像的高级定量分析。新型3D爬行波成像技术的成功开发将很容易应用于超声扫描仪，因此可以广泛传播。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Accurate detection of prostate cancer is an urgent priority, since it is the most prevalent cancer in men and is the second most frequent cause of cancer deaths in adult males. Image-guided biopsy, brachytherapy, ablation, and volume assessment all benefit from major improvements in prostate cancer imaging. This project combines the expertise of three institutions, the University of Rochester (UR), General Electric Global Research (GE), and Renssalear Polytechnic Institute (RPI), to create and assess a novel 3D imaging scanner applied to prostate cancer. The imaging is based on the newly discovered phenomenon of crawling waves, which are a set of interfering shear waves that can be visualized in real time using Doppler spectral techniques. The local behavior of the crawling waves is strongly linked to the biomechanical properties of the local tissue, and therefore depends on the state of the cellular and intracellular matrix. Previous studies have convincingly demonstrated that there is a large biomechanical contrast between many prostate cancers and surrounding non-cancerous tissue; and that this contrast can be imaged by a variety of elastographic imaging techniques. The phenomenon of crawling waves along with in situ excitation and advanced estimator techniques now makes it possible to take real-time imaging of biomechanical properties to a new level of quantitative accuracy, at better resolution than was previously possible. The overall conduct of the grant and clinical application of the new technology are overseen by Deborah J. Rubens, M.D., as the PI. Kevin J. Parker, Lead Investigator, is responsible for the coordination and integration of the technology from the three institutions (UR, GE, RPI) such that milestones are achieved and a working clinical instrument is available for evaluation of human prostates. Kai Thomenius, Lead Investigator, leads the GE effort in creating the working scanner, and Joyce McLaughlin, Lead Investigator, leads the RPI effort in developing the advanced quantitative analysis with resulting images. Successful development of the novel 3D crawling wave imaging technology will be readily applicable to ultrasound scanners and therefore can be widely disseminated.