![\"This](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/01\/BraggPeak.jpg\")
\u201cLots of folks at MCW have been very supportive of this project, from Dr. (William) See in urology, to the MCW Tissue Bank and MCW\u2019s Clinical & Translational Science Institute,\u201d Patch said.<\/p>\n
To create thermoacoustic images, Patch needed a way to heat prostates uniformly. In the basement of the 51ÁÔÆæ Physics building, a souped-up FM radio transmitter propagates high-power VHF (very high frequency) pulses through her bench-top imaging system. The signal is driven by electrical conductivity. Healthy prostate glands produce fluid that is about three times more conductive than blood or plasma. Unhealthy prostate glands produce less conductive fluid.<\/p>\n
Patch and collaborator Dr. David Hull compare the thermoacoustic images to the corresponding prostate samples to determine whether the images could be used for cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n
If thermoacoustic imaging proves as effective as more costly techniques, Patch would look to image prostates still inside patients. The process would be similar to the current transrectal biopsy now used for diagnosing tumors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking for surgeons in town to help us move to the next level,\u201d she said. \u201cTo drum up funds to build a prototype, we\u2019ll need to have physicians and patients on board who will allow us to perform thermoacoustic imaging the biopsy procedure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longer term, she hopes to image other abdominal organs, like the liver and pancreas.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also possible that thermoacoustic imaging could do more than just detect cancer; it could be used to treat it.<\/p>\n
Proton therapy is a method of cancer treatment in which doctors direct a beam of charged particles at a tumor. Unlike regular radiation treatments, in which X-rays can affect a wide area of the body, particle beams deposit most of their energy at a certain point known as the Bragg peak, and then die away almost completely. In principle, treatment can be focused on the tumor, leaving the healthy tissue beyond the Bragg peak untouched. Positioning errors, however, result in treating healthy tissue and under-treating the tumor.<\/p>\n
Patch and scientists working on the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab\u2019s (LBNL) 88-inch cyclotron worked together to detect thermoacoustic emissions from the Bragg peak. Patch tested her newest ultrasound equipment at Berkeley last summer with an upgraded cyclotron that accelerates protons to approximately one-third the speed of light.<\/p>\n
\u201cLBNL donated a day\u2019s worth of time of on the cyclotron. We did some experiments and it worked better than I thought it would,\u201d Patch said.<\/p>\n
LBNL also provided staff support, including technicians who modified electronics, operators who controlled the beam and a scientist coaxed out of retirement. The experiment involved pulsing a proton beam at a \u201cphantom,\u201d a model of human tissue used for ultrasound. The team designed a phantom with a cavity that mimicked a portion of the intestine, because gas pockets wreak havoc with treatment plans.<\/p>\n
Scientists George Noid and Allen Li at MCW took CT scans of the phantom, which Patch used to estimate the Bragg peak when the cavity was empty and when it was filled with olive oil.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beam could penetrate 2 centimeters in the oil. But when the cavity is empty, the beam flies right through and doesn\u2019t slow down until it enters phantom material. With my ultrasound transducers, we can see that difference pretty accurately,\u201d Patch said.<\/p>\n
Her results are preliminary, but Patch thinks that if the team continues to see positive results, thermoacoustics could improve the accuracy of proton therapy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The next generation of tools to diagnose prostate cancer could come from 51ÁÔÆæ, where physicist Sarah Patch is using sound to detect tumors. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":27834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,175],"tags":[],"section":[135],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[158,161],"class_list":["post-27832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-research","section-health","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-hard-science"],"yoast_head":"\n