果冻影院

The work builds on the results of the PROMIS study published in February, which showed that many prostate cancer patients were undergoing unnecessary biopsy procedures, which can cause side effects including pain, bleeding and infection. The study also indicated that multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging used as a triage test can avoid unnecessary biopsies and improve diagnostic accuracy.

Improved diagnosis

It is hoped that by using hyperpolarised MRI and multi-parametric MRI together, clinicians can further improve diagnostic accuracy by giving a clearer picture of the exact tumour location. Furthermore, by understanding the metabolic activity, clinicians hope to differentiate between aggressive or non-aggressive tumours, helping to guide treatment decisions.

The clinical trial at 果冻影院 uses a method which sees the patient injected with a traceable sugar before undergoing an MRI scan. Before injection, the sugar is put through a process called hyperpolarisation using specialised equipment set up at 果冻影院H. This boosts the signal produced by the sugar by more than 10,000 times.听The metabolic conversion of the sugar in the location of tumour can be picked up by MRI to determine where the tumour is, and may be helpful in determining how aggressive the tumour is.

Dr Shonit Punwani, 果冻影院 Reader in Magnetic Resonance and Cancer Imaging (Centre for Medical Imaging) and 果冻影院H honorary consultant radiologist, said: 鈥淭he multi-disciplinary research team have spent the past two years installing and testing the equipment, creating standard operating procedures and planning the study in great detail. We are really pleased to have scanned our first patient and we will continue to work closely with other sites, in the UK and internationally, to develop this technology further.鈥� Dr Punwani is the principal investigator of the Hyperpolarised MRI study which is developing the technology so that a full clinical evaluation can take place.

Prof. Mark Emberton, 果冻影院 Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and 果冻影院H honorary consultant urologist, said: 鈥淭he technology offers a real opportunity to deal with the problem of overtreatment of patients with prostate cancer. Most prostate cancers will be non-aggressive and so being able to interrogate their metabolism may help patients with indolent disease avoid treatment.鈥� Prof Emberton was the principal investigator on the .

Prof. David Lomas, Vice-Provost (Health) at 果冻影院, added 鈥淚 am proud of the 果冻影院 team for achieving this milestone. 果冻影院 was one of 3 UK institutions to receive Medical Research Council (MRC) funding in 2015 for the installation of the SpinLab Hyperpolariser. 果冻影院 has a strong history of collaborative working and this is reflected in the development of this technology鈥�.

The study is supported by funding from the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the National Institute of Health Research 果冻影院H Biomedical Research Centre, Cancer Research UK, and philanthropic funding provided by the Mitchell鈥檚 Charitable Trust.听

The Spinlab hyperpolariser from GE is situated at the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre听and designed to work in conjunction with existing MRI equipment to provide non-invasive metabolic assessment of tumours. The traceable sugar injection was developed at the .

Further information听

• Source: 果冻影院H and听果冻影院 Institute of Healthcare Engineering
• Image top: from Left to Right: Fiona Gong (Project Manager), Arash Latifoltojar, Ramla Awais (GMP lab manager), William Devine, Hassan Jeraj (Quality Assurance Manager), Shonit Punwani (Principal Investigator), Edward Johnston, James O鈥機allaghan (MR Physicist), Mrishta Brizmohun.听
• NIHR听

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