Nov 30 2017
Hackensack Meridian Health Bayshore Medical Center is proud to announce that it has expanded services to include targeted MRI ultrasound for prostate biopsy. The procedure utilizes both ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to allow for better targeting within the prostate, enabling cancerous cells to be more easily detected.
"MRI fusion prostate biopsies are groundbreaking in the diagnosis of prostate cancer," says Troy Sukkarieh, M.D., a urologist and urologic surgeon at Bayshore Medical Center. "Even in 2017, physicians still have difficulty pinpointing the exact location of prostate cancer due to the challenges with visualizing the entirety of the prostate, as well as the biopsy needle. This technology provides us with much better information so that we can more easily see prostate tumors and biopsy the appropriate areas."
The technology fuses pre-biopsy MR images of the prostate with ultrasound-guided biopsy images in real time, providing delineation of the prostate and suspicious lesions, as well as a clear visualization of the biopsy needle.
"As one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, Bayshore Medical Center's introduction of MR/ultrasound fusion biopsy could not have come at a more opportune time," says Timothy J. Hogan, FACHE. "We are confident that this new technology will bring hope to patients and equip our health care providers with the latest technology to identify and target suspicious prostate lesions."
Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer has become the most common form of cancer in American men and the second-leading cause of cancer death in this population. The primary candidates for this procedure are patients with rising PSA levels and previously negative biopsies, or those on active surveillance.
"In addition to the technology assisting the surgeons with accuracy, there are many other benefits to patients," says Dr. Sukkarieh. "One major benefit is it limits unnecessary biopsies on a large number of men by making the biopsy much more precise."
The procedure also means that surgeons require fewer tissue samples, which reduces a patient's risk for infection, bleeding, pain and recovery time.
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