Left: likelihood map of cancer distribution in prostate ultrasound based on ultrasound time series analysis. Right: histology cross-section of the prostate with cancerous area marked by a pathologist.
Professor Abolmaesumi was awarded the UBC Killam Faculty Research Fellowship today. The Fellowship will allow him to continue his efforts to detect prostate cancer earlier and to help select the best therapy through accurate staging. Early diagnosis is an important key to treating this deadly disease. Prostate cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in North American men. If diagnosed early, prostate cancer can be managed with a long-term disease free survival rate of above 95%.
The current, definitive diagnosis for prostate cancer is done by core needle biopsy guided by ultrasound. Using this conventional test, up to one-third of cases are under-diagnosed or missed. With his expertise in medical imaging, Prof. Abolmaesumi has developed a way of greatly improving the accuracy and sensitivity of the diagnosis. His research demonstrates that by using a series of ultrasound frames he can accurately depict the tissue response to ultrasound excitation. In pilot studies conducted in collaboration with leading health centers in the US and Canada, Prof. Abolmaesumi has demonstrated the potential of the technology to accurately identify a number of different types of cancer. The accuracy can be further improved when it is combined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
In collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, Prof. Abolmaesumi will fuse the ultrasound time series imaging with MRI using new machine learning techniques. This will be the first time two types of imaging will be used at once to target prostate cancer.
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Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty recognized by peers with UBC Killam Research Fellowships