Next Generation Micro-ultrasound Technology for Detection and Monitoring of Prostate Cancer

在这个项目中，我们建议联合收割机结合加拿大在超声成像方面的三项进步，以实现一种新的准确的癌症检测和监测解决方案。我们将使用前列腺癌（PCa）作为测试案例。这是第二大常见癌症，每年约有25，000例新发病例，预计到2021年，全球PC诊断和监测市场将达到270亿加元/年。准确检测侵袭性前列腺癌可通过手术切除前列腺对患者进行有效治疗，并将疾病复发的风险降至最低。它还允许持续监测癌症进展，这是改善生活质量、降低发病率和提高患者生存率的关键。然而，目前的检测和监测方法并不可靠：现有的超声引导前列腺活检不能准确定位肿瘤，以及最近发展起来的磁共振成像（MRI）可视化前列腺癌的方法有很高的假阳性率，并且会错过小的和可能具有侵袭性的癌症。此外，MRI非常昂贵，在加拿大除了大城市中心外，并不广泛使用，导致诊断延迟，临床结果更差。我们独特的技术有望以高分辨率捕捉前列腺组织的变化。我们将在我们的主要知识翻译合作伙伴Exact Imaging的帮助下，在患者中验证这一点。此外，我们还将在温哥华前列腺中心，将自然科学和临床科学的专家与使用该技术的临床医生聚集在一起。我们将遵循在招聘和研究中纳入性别和性别多样性的最佳实践，并将培训两名博士生，三名本科生，三名泌尿学研究员和一名研究工程师。

In this project, we propose to combine three Canadian advancements in ultrasound imagingto implement a new and accurate solution for detection and monitoring of cancer. We will useprostate cancer (PCa) as a test case. This is the second most common cancer in Canadianmen, with about 25,000 new cases per year, and the expected global market for diagnosisand monitoring of PCs is $27B CAD/year by 2021. Accurate detection of aggressive PCaenables effective treatment of patients through surgical excision of the prostate with minimalrisk for recurrence of disease. It also allows continuous monitoring of cancer progression,which is key to improve quality of life, reduce morbidity and increase patient survival.However, current detection and monitoring methods are not robust: the establishedultrasound-guided prostate biopsy is unable to accurately locate tumors, and recentlydeveloped magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approaches to visualize PCa have a very highrate of false positives and miss small and possibly aggressive cancer. Furthermore, MRI isvery costly and not widely available in Canada except in large, urban centres, leading todelayed diagnosis with worse clinical outcomes. Our unique technology promises to capturechanges in prostate tissue at high-resolution. We will validate this in patients with the help ofour principal knowledge translation partner, Exact Imaging. In addition, we will bring togetherexperts across natural sciences and clinical sciences with clinicians who will use thetechnology, at the Vancouver Prostate Centre. We will follow best practices in incorporation ofsex and gender diversity in recruitment and research, and will train two PhD students, threeundergraduate students, three urology fellows and one research engineer.