Detection of prostate cancer by contrast-ultrasound dispersion imaging

Despite the development of several efficient focal therapies for prostate cancer, treatment options are often restricted to radical treatments, such as a radical prostatectomy. One of the main obstacles preventing a wider application of focal therapies is the lack of reliable imaging methods for prostate cancer. Contrast-ultrasound dispersion imaging (CUDI) is a recently introduced method for detection and localization of prostate cancer, based on dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DCE-US) imaging. CUDI aims at localizing prostate cancer by detection of angiogenesis, i.e., the development of a chaotic dense microvascular network that has a proven correlation with prostate cancer aggressiveness. Key features of the microvascular structure, such as microvascular density and tortuosity, are characterized by the dispersion of ultrasound contrast agents (microbubbles) through the microcirculation. A twofold validation of CUDI is performed. The ability of CUDI to differentiate between different microvascular structures is evaluated in an animal study using two xenograft models of human prostate cancer that feature different microvascular structures. Furthermore, a preliminary clinical validation is performed to evaluate the value of CUDI for prostate cancer localization in humans.