Does 29Mhz Micro-Ultrasound Provide Uniform Diagnostic Accuracy Within and Beyond the Peripheral Zone?

Abstract

Micro-Ultrasound is a new imaging modality designed as a replacement for conventional transrectal ultrasound (TRUS). Like conventional TRUS, micro-ultrasound uses an endorectal transducer to produce real-time images of the prostate and surrounding tissue, however operating at 29MHz it does so with a resolution that is 3-fold higher than conventional systems operating at 6-12MHz. This improved resolution gives micro-ultrasound the ability to image structures down to 70 microns, or the average size of the prostate acini, and so resolve tissue-structure detail which is useful in predicting the presence of cancer. First presented in 2013 through a study of radical prostatectomy correlation by Pavlovich CP, et al. [1], micro-ultrasound demonstrated promising improvements over conventional ultrasound in both sensitivity and specificity to predict prostate cancer. This work suffered from a lack of structured interpretation, as it was discovered that the appearance of cancer on microultrasound imaging was more diverse than the simple hypoechoic lesion of conventional ultrasound. Ghai S, et al. [2] provided the required protocol in 2016, along with a retrospective validation using data collected from a biopsy cohort [2]. Since that time, other *Corresponding author: Ferdinand Luger, Department of Urology, Ordensklinikum Krankenhaus der Elisabethinen, Austria. Received Date: September 11, 2019