Fusion of Ultrasound Tissue-Typing Images with Multiparametric MRI for Image-guided Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy.

摘要

We propose to generate 3-D prostate cancer map through the fusion of ultrasound tissue-typing (UTT) onto the multiparametric MR images. This translational research brings our innovative image registration method into the clinic for an image-guided tumor-targeted prostate radiotherapy. A prostate segmentation method has been developed to improve the accuracy of prostate contour. Based on this segmentation, a novel registration method based on patient-specific biomechanical model was developed. We created image registration and fusion methods that could be used to combine UTT and multiparametric MR images. We demonstrated the feasibility of combining the two modalities for image-guided radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Under the guidance of a highly distinguished mentor team, the PI had a very productive year, in which he published 26 abstracts, 6 conference papers, 8 journal papers and two pending patents. In addition, the PI received research awards from Emory University, American Association of Physicists in Medicine and International Society for Optics and Photonics. With this research, we hope to offer radiation oncologists a new approach that delivers higher doses to tumor-bearing regions to improve local control and survival while maintaining or reducing doses to surrounding normal tissues, such as the rectum and bladder.