Bringing clarity to prostate cancer diagnosis this men’s health month

Prostate cancer remains the second most common cancer among men, yet many are unaware of the advancements in detection methods that can significantly improve outcomes. Despite doing everything right, many men still face the frustrating reality of misdiagnosis or overtreatment.

This means that some men undergo aggressive or even unnecessary treatments that can lead to adverse effects without improving their quality of life.  During their annual checkups, many men undergo a PSA test, which can lead to a biopsy if levels are high. However, traditional biopsy methods can miss aggressive cancers or identify low-risk ones that do not require treatment.

This June, during Men’s Health Month, it’s time we talk about a better path forward. One that uses the latest tools in imaging, urology and digital pathology to support clinicians to bring clarity to prostate cancer care and deliver best possible care.

For decades, the standard prostate cancer detection method has been the TRUS biopsy—a procedure that samples random areas of the prostate guided only by ultrasound.

Today, prostate cancer care is shifting toward precision diagnostics that integrate imaging, targeted biopsy, AI-enhanced pathology, and personalized planning. for prostate diagnosis are in use at 25 or the 30 top-ranked U.S. cancer hospitals.

1. Intelligent imaging

Philips offers the Elition X (3.0T) with SmartSpeed: AI-enabled acceleration image acquisition techniques, and up to 65% higher resolution, allowing for a bi-parametric MR of the prostate in ~5 minutes. [3] Philips SmartSpeed is the award-winning result from a competition organized by Facebook-AI. [4]

2. Efficient accurate interpretation

To improve the efficiency and consistency of radiologists in coming to a diagnosis, Philips offers AI-Manager, [5] an open, vendor-agnostic integration point for 3rd party AI Apps into the existing radiology workflow. To support the diagnostic workflow for prostate cancer, Philips offers AI-Manager with multiple AI-Apps in the prostate cancer domain: Bot-Image, Lucida Medical, and Quibim.

DynaCAD [6] offers the radiologist dedicated advanced visualization of multi-parametric MR images, allowing delineation of the prostate gland, the lesion(s), and reporting according to the PIRADS standard.

3. Unlock insights & collaboration

To further support a first-time-right diagnosis of prostate cancer, Philips offers the solution consisting of DynaCAD Urology and UroNav. The prostate segmentation, the identification and segmentation of prostate cancer lesions and their PIRADS score are transferred from DynaCAD to UroNav, sharing the radiologist’s results with the urologist, to be used to prepare and execute the biopsy procedure.

UroNav offers (electromagnetic tracking based) MR/Ultrasound image-fusion live during the biopsy procedure, resulting in a 30% higher diagnostic yield for high-risk prostate cancer. [7]

The biopsies collected by the urologist (using UroNav) need to be analyzed by the pathologist. To support pathology department in their journey towards digitization, Philips has the largest digital pathology installed base in the world with a full solution (PIPS): a scanner, visualization software called Image Management System (IMS), and displays/screens as well as proven planning, implementation and transformation services that have helped well over 300 customers transform their clinical pathology workflows to digital. [8]

Philips also teams up with 3rd party AI solutions for AI in (digital) pathology. [9]

First results show an up to 25% increase in efficiency when going from analogue (microscope) to digital pathology, and a further increase in efficiency up to 37% by adding AI to digital pathology. [10]

Our clinical solutions can enhance detection and improve the patient experience by reducing unnecessary biopsies and potentially reducing post-procedure complications. Digital pathology saves time and resources through streamlined collaborative features and case management tools. This digital solution can be used alongside with enterprise-wide IT infrastructure and AI capabilities, [9] allowing for cost-effective productivity and efficiency gains. [11] AI can for example help to automatically apply Gleason score to tissue samples which is important in indicating staging of Prostate cancer.

Philips DynaCAD Urology brings everything together in a single patient view—combining imaging, biopsy locations, and pathology data. This supports clinicians in a confident diagnosis ultimately supporting the best possible care.

Prostate cancer affects 1 in 6 men in the U.S. and Europe. [12] However, most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it, and over 3.3 million men in the US who have been diagnosed are still alive today. Let’s make a difference, together.