TargetScan Improves Prostate Cancer Detection

When Dominic Dippolito came in for a prostate exam, he was already nervous.

"I didn't know what to expect, really," he said.

Dippolito was worried about what the exam might reveal and nervous about the exam itself.

"I never had one before,” he said. “So, this was the first time and, believe me, it was painless."

Part of the reason for that is there a new way of performing a prostate exam called TargetScan. The device uses GPS-like technology to create three dimensional pictures of a prostate and better detection of any abnormalities.

"As technology evolves, the probes are getting so much more sophisticated that the pictures we're getting are just truly amazing pictures," said Dr. David Spellberg, with Naples Urology Associates.

Doctors estimate, in the U.S., one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, making new technology to fight it, all the more important.

"The TargetScan has been shown in numerous studies now, that it will actually find prostate cancers that other scans won't," Dr. Spellberg said.

"The tests came back, the biopsies were good-- no cancer,” Dippolito said, “and that was the best Christmas present I've had in years."

TargetScan technology is not cheap. The devices cost $70,000 each.

Two technology is available at two places in Collier County: at Naples Urology Associates and at the Naples-based Medical Surgical Specialists.