What is it about?
Prostate Cancer (PCa) is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The last decade has seen several advancements in imaging modality techniques for PCa detection. In this review we summarized the results of major imaging modalities - multi-parametric ultrasound (US), multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MRI-US fusion imaging, and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging - used in the diagnosis of PCa. We laid special emphasis on the biological and functional characteristics of tumors, for e.g. tumor angiogenesis, cellular density and metabolic activity, that rationalize the use these imaging techniques.
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Why is it important?
In this article, we discuss recent results for PCa detection of all major imaging modalities such as US, MRI and PET and their sub-modalities. The interested reader can find a summary of results for each technique as well as obtain an appreciation for the biological characteristics of the tumor that each imaging technique seeks to exploit. In this respect, this review not only introduces the user to the different imaging methods but also seeks to unify the techniques across modalities in their approach to tumor biology. State-of-the-art imaging techniques have truly revolutionized the way we approach PCa detection and management. Now as well as in the future it would be critical to understand the underlying biological processes that define tumor growth in order to optimize the accuracy of the different modalities.
Perspectives
Imaging now plays a mainstream role in the detection and management of prostate cancer worldwide. While regular anatomic greyscale ultrasound has been used for PCa detection for more than 25 years now, the more recent addition of multi-parametric US, multi-parametric MRI and PET imaging have vastly improved our approach to finding occult PCa tumors for both initial detection and recurrence post therapy. Incorporation of multi-parametric techniques have complemented conventional anatomic prostate imaging through the incorporation of information regarding the functional behavior of tumors e.g. angiogenesis, cellular density and metabolic activity.
Dr. Saradwata Sarkar
Eigen, CA
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Review of Imaging Methods for Prostate Cancer Detection, Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology, March 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.4137/becb.s34255.
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