Holy Family Hospital now offers patients cutting edge technology for more accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer.

 

Targeted mpMRI Fusion biopsy takes images from a pre-exam MRI of the prostate, and fuses them with real-time ultrasound images, creating high-definition 3D color images that enable physicians to accurately target abnormal tissue during an ultrasound-guided biopsy.

 

“Multiparametric fusion biopsy (mpMRI) is an advanced technology for prostate cancer screening, diagnosis, and active surveillance of prostate cancer,” says Board Certified Urologic Surgeon Liam Hurley, MD.

 

In the past, men with elevated PSA levels were monitored by urologists, and if levels remained elevated or continued to rise, they were sent for multiple random biopsies of prostate tissue. 

Biopsies were random because physicians could not see the specific location of abnormal tissue. As a result some patients received negative biopsy results, yet PSA levels remained elevated or continued to rise. 

 

According to Dr. Hurley, each year 1.3 million biopsies are performed to diagnose 240,000 cases of prostate cancer, and 25 percent of those biopsies have a false negative result, meaning the patient had cancer, but it was not found during random biopsy. During a random biopsy, multiple biopsies are performed to diagnose these missed cancers, and 8 to 9 percent of those patients develop complications. 

 

“The use of mpMRI fusion biopsy will diminish the amount of unnecessary biopsies, and at the same time, find more significant cancer earlier. Holy Family Hospital is at the forefront in starting this new program of advanced technology,” says Dr. Hurley.

 

Urologic Surgeon Dr. Christopher Ip agrees.

“I tell my patients that with the MRI studies we are less likely to miss a clinically significant prostate cancer,” says Dr. Ip. “MRI ultrasound fusion biopsy combines advances in prostate imaging with traditional trans-rectal ultrasound, for a targeted and more accurate ultrasound-guided biopsy of the prostate.”

 

Holy Family Hospital is proud to make an investment in this revolutionary technology.

 

“This technology offers physicians and patients a highly accurate method for detection of prostate cancers, which in the past have been missed. Earlier detection of prostate cancer, as with all cancers, is important because the earlier it is detected, the better the outcome for our patients,” says Holy Family Hospital President Craig Jesiolowski, FACHE.