Prostate cancer has become the most common form of cancer to affect men in western countries and statistics show no signs of a decrease. And as the disease becomes more common, the need for examination methods and reliable indicators for prostate cancer is increasing.
“We need new, reliable instruments” says Ville Jalkanen, project leader.
It is a disease that affect almost 10 000 Swedish men every year. Still, the knowledge about prostate cancer is, to a certain degree, insufficient and there is no unanimous method for diagnosis. Today, measuring the level of prostate specific antigen, rectal palpation and ultra sound are the most commonly used methods when suspecting prostate cancer. If the test results indicate cancer, a biopsy is done. Unfortunately these methods are not completely reliable, which in a worst case scenario can lead to the wrong form of treatment or the cancer being missed.
The project is a collaboration between the institutions for applied physics and electronics, pathology and urology at Umeå University and also cooperate with Luleå University of Technology, Västerbotten county council, Bioresonator AB and Nihon University. The goal is to develop at new instrument that in a safe and objective way can determine whether or not there is cancer in the examined tissue. The work is based on three different techniques, resonance sensor technique, ultra sound technique, and eddy current technique.
“Our focus today is on the resonance sensor technique, the other two were added to the project later on” says Jalkanen. “However, the goal is still to combine the techniques for the best result possible.”
A machine that uses resonance technique has been bought from Japan and is now being examined at Umeå University. The idea is to be able to construct an own instrument by investigating and evaluating the Japanese version.
“The problem with the machine we bought is that it’s not developed to search for prostate cancer, the measurements are not optimal” explains Jalkanen. “If we, on the other hand, can create an instrument of our own, we can have full control of the measured values and therefore come closer to our goal.”
The first step is being able to determine whether removed tissue has cancer in the cut surfaces, something that could save both lives and medial resources. Today, the removed tissue is tested but it takes a couple of days to get the lab results.
In the future, Jalkanen and his team are hoping to use their different techniques for detection and diagnosis when there is a case of possible prostate cancer.
In other words, there is no doubt there is a big market for diagnosis of prostate cancer. Today, an estimated three million biopsies of the prostate are performed world wide. The non-invasive, accurate and painless method now being developed could reduce this number and thus save society large amounts in health and medical care.
CMTF, c/o Tillämpad fysik och elektronik
Umeå universitet, 901 87 Umeå
Tel: +46 (0)90-786 96 38.
E-post: Britt Andersson.
