The Third Dimension in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
Francisco G. La Rosa, MD, Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Colorado Anschutz in Denver, discusses in vivo 3D imaging and how it can benefit physicians in treating prostate cancer. He explains that, unfortunately, most views of the prostate are just 2D, but clinicians require a 3D view to really understand a lesion. Dr. La Rosa then introduces his own process of creating a 3D model of the pelvic area and producing a 3D model of a prostate that could be used to practice biopsies and other procedures at the Butcher Symposium on Genomics and Biotechnology Workshop in 2007. He displays an image of a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy procedure, explaining that going through the rectum is challenging because of probe inflexibility but a system that takes a biopsy through both the rectum and perineum can solve this challenge. Dr. La Rosa’s proposed system uses a template through which a biopsy can be done through the perineum and information from the biopsy cores and ultrasound are run through in vivo 3D biomapping software. He concludes with a discussion of how multifocality can be more challenging to overcome and states that in vivo 3D examination provides physicians and patients with a reliable assessment of grade and stage of disease and the opportunity to choose the most appropriate therapeutic options, while also showing a highly accurate ability to detect clinically significant prostate cancer lesions as compared with 3D reconstruction of prostatectomy specimens.
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