The overall goal of this academic-industrial partnership is to improve the clinical imaging assessment of prostate cancer patients by creating a clinically optimized and validated commercial 3T multi-parametric (T2 MRI, 1H and hyperpolarized 13C MRSI, DTI and DCE) imaging exam for widespread distribution. The clinical rationale for the proposed studies is that prostate cancer management, more than many cancers, requires accurate imaging information to select the most appropriate treatment for individual patients and for assessing response to therapy. This is due to the pathologic and biologic complexity of the human prostate and prostate cancer. This complexity results in questions of whether and how to treat individual prostate cancer patients. Additionally, this complexity demands state-of-the-art high spatial resolution multiparametric MR imaging and spectroscopy techniques to accurately assess disease status in individual patients. While recent advances in the development of anatomic, metabolic and physiologic imaging methods are having a significant impact in clinical prostate cancer research studies, a robust commercially available multiparametric 3T (T2 MRI, 1H MRSI, DTI, and DCE) magnetic resonance imaging exam does not exist. In this project, we also propose to develop and translate into patient studies hyperpolarized 13C MR, a new metabolic imaging technique that has shown potential for greatly advancing prostate cancer imaging. The proton MR techniques have been developed through an NCI-funded Bioengineering Research Partnership development project and are now ready for clinical validation studies. The hyperpolarized 13C MR is at an earlier developmental stage nearing patient studies and now requires this academic-industrial partnership with both extensive MR engineering and clinical expertise to move this promising new metabolic imaging technology forward for patient evaluation studies. This academic-industrial partnership between a major MR manufacturer and an experienced prostate cancer clinical-research group is critical for the creation of new clinical imaging tools for better characterizing the presence, extent, aggressiveness, and response to therapy of this very common and biologically diverse cancer.
The overall goal of this academic-industrial partnership is to improve the clinical imaging assessment of prostate cancer patients by creating a clinically optimized and validated commercial 3T multi-parametric (T2 MRI, 1H and hyperpolarized 13C MRSI, DTI and DCE) imaging exam for widespread distribution and use in multi-center clinical trials. The clinical rationale is that prostate cancers demonstrate a tremendous range in biologic diversity, and an urgent need exists to develop non-invasive imaging biomarkers for improved prostate cancer patient-specific treatment planning and early assessment of therapeutic failure.
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