Scientists at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) are developing and commercializing a promising new therapy for prostate cancer that may offer patients a faster and more precise treatment than existing clinical alternatives, with fewer side effects. The new treatment — magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided transurethral ultrasound — uses heat from focused ultrasound to destroy cancer in the prostate gland precisely while sparing the delicate noncancerous tissues, thus preserving healthy urinary, bowel, and sexual function. Sunnybrook researchers Dr. Michael Bronskill and Dr. Rajiv Chopra have licensed their innovation from SRI, affiliated with the University of Toronto, to spin out Profound Medical Inc., which will develop the technology for clinical use. Unlike surgical removal of the prostate, the treatment is minimally invasive and could be performed without a lengthy hospital stay. In preclinical studies, treatment takes less than 30 minutes. The therapy could help limit the number of men living with the common, debilitating and often permanent side effects of currently used surgical and radiation treatments — most notably incontinence and impotence. The innovation involves two different and previously incompatible technologies, ultrasound and MRI, which Bronskill and Chopra spent 10 years making compatible. “You have to make an ultrasound heating applicator work inside a magnetic resonance imager, without the two technologies interfering with each other,” says Bronskill. “The prostate cancer site is a natural for this technology because it’s surrounded by structures you want to spare.” Go to: Health News Blog

Posted September 24th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer

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