| Virtual biopsies can help track illness progression |
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| Written by Aurora Graveland |
| Friday, 16 April 2010 11:50 |
Computer program may help doctors keep tabs on disease without putting patients under the knife again
University of Calgary researchers are developing a new way of conducting biopsies on patients, combining images from medical scans using complex math calculations on desktop computers. The team of researchers has developed a computer program that takes the images from MRI and CT scans and lines them up until they form one image. The key to this is the graphics card, said Dr. Ross Mitchell, the lead researcher involved in the project. The process can take large, very advanced computers hours, but a modern graphics card is able to process the same command in mere seconds, Mitchell said. “If we can find a way to speed the process up, then it is very non-trivial to pursue this technology,” Mitchell said. The findings of the research have been published in the journal Neuroimage, and the University of Calgary has funded the project. The research has looked at scans from anonymous patients and compared the results from the program with those found by the doctors treating them. 
Dr. Ross Mitchell examines an image generated by the program he and his team of researchers has developed at the University of Calgary.
Photo: Aurora Graveland/ Calgary Journal
The program developed by Mitchell’s team will then take each image and line them up until they match and provide doctors with a full three-dimensional image of the patient in question. This image can be used to identify any potential health issues, such as tumours, in the same sort of way that a traditional biopsy can. “Once you have the image, you can use it to measure if the brain has atrophied in an Alzheimer’s patient, if a lesion has gotten bigger or smaller, or if you got all of a brain tumour out,” Mitchell said. Carrie Luciuk, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 38 in 2006, said that she believes virtual biopsies could be an important tool for cancer patients, and that she wishes they had been around when she was going through treatment. “Getting a biopsy is unpleasant to say the least,” she said in an email. Now 41, Luciuk said she had a small tumour removed and then had radiation therapy after surgery. “If there’s a way to speed up the process of getting a diagnosis done, then it’s a good idea,” Luciuk said. “The entire situation (cancer) is traumatic enough as is without having to be sliced into and having a piece removed. As long as it’s accurate, (a virtual biopsy) sounds like a pretty decent thing to have.” Mitchell said traditional biopsies have an accuracy rate of about 94 per cent, while tests for the virtual biopsy program have had an accuracy rate of 92 per cent. “The surgical biopsy isn’t always perfect because about five per cent of the time they don’t actually get enough tissue for the test and when they are able to run the test, once in awhile it fails.” Mitchell said, “So, we’re encouraged that the virtual accuracy is so close (to the traditional).” Deanna Kraus, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Cancer Society, said that virtual biopsies could be helpful for cancer patients who generally must have biopsies to be diagnosed with the disease. “Something we advocate is access to timely, quality care for people diagnosed with cancer,” Kraus said. “If virtual biopsies could decrease wait times (for patients), then this technology would be a step in the right direction.” While there is the option to use virtual biopsies in place of traditional ones, Mitchell stresses that they will be used primarily to complement the traditional procedure, not replace them outright. “A patient could come in and elect not to have the surgical biopsy, but we would hope to use this as a follow-up tool to track the progression of the illness or the recovery of the patient,” Mitchell said. |
