DCH Regional Medical Center Offers High-Tech Prostate Imaging and Biopsy

DCH Regional Medical Center Offers High-Tech Prostate Imaging and Biopsy

DCH Regional Medical Center is the first hospital in central Alabama to offer a new targeted biopsy of the prostate.
Prostate biopsy, the most reliable way to detect prostate cancer, is a challenge using conventional methods. To obtain a sample from a suspicious lesion in the prostate, the urologist inserts an ultrasound probe into the patient’s rectum. The urologist can only visualize the prostate on an ultrasound image on a monitor.

“It’s hard to see the whole prostate, and even harder to locate a tumor with a biopsy needle using only an ultrasound probe,” said Dr. Matthew Thom, a urologist with West Alabama Urology Associates. “The new UroNav fusion biopsy system overlays MRI images that were made before the biopsy with ultrasound images we’re capturing during the procedure.”

A sophisticated computer program merges or fuses the MRI and ultrasound images to give the urologist a view of the prostate that allows him to target the biopsy needle to the suspicious lesion. The UroNav fusion biopsy system combines electromagnetic tracking and navigation, similar to the GPS in your car.

“This is a truly new biopsy option for many patients,” said Dr. Howard Winfield, a urologist with West Alabama Urology Associates. “Targeted MRI/ultrasound biopsy is poised to become the new standard in prostate care, and DCH Regional Medical Center is pleased to be the first facility in the area to offer this powerful solution to our patients.”

Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer has become the most common form of cancer in American men and the second-leading cause of cancer death in this population.