Image-guided brachytherapy and biopsy of the prostate - 277048
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Towards more efficient brachytherapy and biopsy of the prostate: Using image registration and deep learning to create an interactive adaptive treatment planning algorithm for intra-operative catheter placement validation and improved visualisation
IRAS ID
277048
Contact name
Mirjana Ruppel
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of the West of England
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, months, days
Research summary
Brachytherapy is a possible treatment for prostate cancer. In the course of this
procedure radioactive pellets are inserted into the prostate to destroy cancerous
cells. This is a challenging task for oncologists since good placement of the radioactive sources and therefore the catheters is essential to allow for successful treatment.
Currently, the surgeons insert the catheters with the help of transrectal ultrasound. To validate the placement a CT scan is performed and the contours of the prostate and catheters are outlined to calculate the distribution of the pellets in the catheters. To make the procedure more efficient, I plan on increasing the quality of the visualisation by combining the patient's MRI that was obtained before the procedure and the US images that are obtained during the procedure with a deep learning approach.
To train the deep learning network, patient data consisting of segmented US and MRI of the prostate is needed. At this stage participants can be brachytherapy or prostate biopsy patients who want to give consent to their MR and US images being used for the study. Their data will be anonymised by the hospital staff.REC name
London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/1092
Date of REC Opinion
21 Dec 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion