Tool More Accurately Detects Prostate Cancer

"We're offering a technology which may improve the likelihood of detecting cancer," said Dr. Thomas Polascik, a Urologic Surgeon with Duke University Medical Center.

Polascik is one of the first Triangle doctors using Targetscan. Medical experts said this new medical technology allows doctors to more accurately detect and treat prostate cancer.

"It's essentially a way to perform a standard prostate biopsy on a man," said Polascik. "Essentially, what happens is a three-dimensional computerized software rendering of the prostate and then once the three-dimensional images are reconstructed, one can perform a targeted biopsy of specific areas of the prostate."

Joseph Bailey was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March. He agreed to try the Targetscan procedure after conventional biopsy methods failed to confirm problems with preliminary blood tests, indicating cancer. Targetscan not only detected the cancer, but also pinpointed the areas that need to be treated.

"I was happy to go along with it because it detected the cancer that I have," said Bailey.

"The actual software tells us where to take the biopsies from, thereby increasing the likelihood of prostate cancer detection," said Polascik.

Polascik said the number of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer has doubled since Targetscan was introduced at Duke University Medical Center. Doctors now hope this medical technology will also lead to better treatments for the disease.

Duke University is one of a few medical centers using Targetscan. Doctors at the University of Southern California, Washington University and the Seattle Prostate Institute are also studying the technique.