THREE-DIMENSIONAL PROSTATE IMAGING USING ULTRASOUND

THIS RESEARCH WILL EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A THREE-DIMENSIONAL ULTRASOUND IMAGING SYSTEM FOR THE MALE PROSTATE. THE SYSTEM WILL BE CAPABLE OF EXTRACTING THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGES OF THE PROSTATE FROM SETS OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL ULTRASOUND IMAGES OBTAINED VIA A SPECIAL-PURPOSE TRANSRECTAL ULTRASOUND PROBE. THE EXTRACTION OF THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGES FROM THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE SETS WILL BE PERFORMED BY FINDING THE EDGES OF THE GLAND IN EACH OF THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGES. SUCH A LOW-COST SYSTEM WOULD ENHANCE THE EARLY DETECTION OF PROSTATE CANCER AND YIELD NEW, NONINVASIVE METHODS FOR MONITORING GLAND PATHOLOGY DURING RADIATION THERAPY. TO OBTAIN IMAGE SETS FOR STUDY, THE PROSCAN BI-PLANE IMAGINGSYSTEM WILL BE MODIFIED TO PRODUCE EITHER MULTIPLE TRANSVERSE OR MULTIPLE SAGITTAL IMAGES OF THE PROSTATE. THIS SYSTEM CURRENTLY HAS THE CAPABILITY OF PRODUCING BOTH LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE IMAGES OF THE PROSTATE USING A SINGLE TRANSRECTAL PROBE. BOTH THE PROBE AND THE SUPPORTINGELECTRONICS PACKAGE WILL BE MODIFIED SO THAT TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE SETS CAN BE OBTAINED BY A PRACTICING PHYSICIAN. SEVERAL DIFFERENT EDGE-DETECTION ALGORITHMS WILL BE INVESTIGATED TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE EXTRACTION FROM THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE SETS.