HEИндивидуална стипендия2023–2025

IMPROVE · IMaging PROstate cancer using ViscoElastic biomarkers and a novel transurethral viscoelastic elastography procedure

„Хоризонт Европа“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 181 153 €
Участници: 2
Схема: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Нов ултразвуков метод следи промените в твърдостта на тъканите при лечение на рак на простатата в реално време. Това помага на лекарите да определят дали туморът е напълно обхванат от терапията, което повишава безопасността и ефективността на процедурата.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

IMaging PROstate cancer using ViscoElastic biomarkers and a novel transurethral viscoelastic elastography procedure

Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies among men and a major public health challenge in Europe. Minimally invasive treatments such as High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) have emerged as effective alternatives to radical surgery, selectively ablating cancerous tissue while preserving healthy structures and reducing side effects. However, during the intervention, clinicians currently have no reliable means to determine whether the ablation fully covers the tumour or has achieved the required thermal dose. This lack of immediate feedback often leads to under- or overtreatment, compromising therapeutic success and patient safety. The IMPROVE project aims to address this unmet clinical need by developing Transurethral Shear Wave Elastography (TUSWE), a novel ultrasound-based imaging concept that can monitor the effectiveness of HIFU focal therapy from within the urethra, in real time. By mapping thermal-induced changes in tissue stiffness, TUSWE seeks to provide clinicians with direct, quantitative feedback on treatment outcome while the patient remains anaesthetised. By establishing the scientific and technological foundations of this approach, IMPROVE contributes to Europe’s strategic priorities in personalised, image-guided and minimally invasive healthcare. The project’s long-term goal is to enable safer, more effective focal therapies for prostate cancer, reducing retreatment rates, shortening recovery times, and ultimately improving patients’ quality of life. Its potential impact extends beyond urology, paving the way for a new generation of real-time biomechanical imaging tools applicable to other organs and therapeutic contexts within the European digital health landscape.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

IMPROVE aims to demonstrate the potentiality of Transurethral Shear Wave Viscoelastic Elastography (TUSWAVE) for ‘improving’ the diagnosis of Prostate Cancer (PCa) by identifying it through a new set of biomarkers based on the fractional viscoelastic properties of the prostate. TUSWAVE is a novel concept based on the transmission and reception of shear waves in the prostate through the urethra. Most prostatic tumours are stiffer than normal surrounding tissue, which perturbs the propagation of shear waves. The perturbed waves carry information about the location and changes in the viscoelastic properties of the tumours. IMPROVE aims to further study the correlation between diagnosis features of prostate cancer, such as grade, stage and vascularisation, with shear fractional viscoelastic properties of the prostate, i.e. the shear modulus, the shear viscosity and the fractional-order parameter. To achieve IMPROVE’s goal three main work packages are proposed. First, the development of a 3D anatomically realistic wave propagation model validated in ex vivo human prostate; second, the characterisation of the fractional viscoelastic properties of prostatic tissue under different pathological conditions using Shear Wave Elastography and validated against independent techniques; and finally, the development of a preliminary Artificial Intelligence-based image reconstruction method for TUSWAVE. A large database of prostate cancer clinical scenarios will be generated using the data from the characterisation study and the 3D wave propagation model. This database will be used to train and test the image reconstruction method. Prostate-like phantoms will be used to test the performance of the image reconstruction method. IMPROVE will take TUSWAVE towards a pre-clinical studies stage. IMPROVE is aligned with the mission area 'cancer' set on Horizon Europe.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

UNIVERSIDAD DE GRANADA · GranadaКоординаторИспания
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON · LondonОбединеното кралство