Prospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Dec 28, 2015; 7(12): 521-530
Published online Dec 28, 2015. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v7.i12.521
Cavernosal nerve functionality evaluation after magnetic resonance imaging-guided transurethral ultrasound treatment of the prostate
Steffen Sammet, Ari Partanen, Ambereen Yousuf, Christina L Sammet, Emily V Ward, Craig Wardrip, Marek Niekrasz, Tatjana Antic, Aria Razmaria, Keyvan Farahani, Shunmugavelu Sokka, Gregory Karczmar, Aytekin Oto
Steffen Sammet, Ambereen Yousuf, Emily V Ward, Gregory Karczmar, Aytekin Oto, Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60615, United States
Steffen Sammet, Gregory Karczmar, Committee on Medical Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60615, United States
Ari Partanen, Shunmugavelu Sokka, Philips, Andover, MA 01810, United States
Christina L Sammet, Department of Medical Imaging, Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
Craig Wardrip, Marek Niekrasz, Aria Razmaria, Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60615, United States
Tatjana Antic, Department of Pathology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60615, United States
Keyvan Farahani, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 60615, United States
Author contributions: Sammet S, Partanen A, Yousuf A, Farahani K, Sokka S, Karczmar G and Oto A designed the research; Sammet S, Partanen A, Karczmar G and Oto A developed the MRI protocols; Sammet S, Partanen A and Oto A performed the MRI and therapeutic ultrasound experiments; Antic T performed the histological analysis and the histological/radiological comparison; Oto A performed the radiological image analysis and the histological/radiological comparison; Sammet S, Wardrip C, Niekrasz M and Razmaria A monitored the animals during therapeutic ultrasound treatment and performed surgeries; Sammet S, Partanen A, Yousuf A, Ward EV, Sammet CL, and Oto A wrote the paper.
Supported by The National Cancer Institute Education and Career Development program R25 Cancer Nanotechnology in Imaging and Radiotherapy (5R25CA132822-04) in part; the Cancer Research Foundation; the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Philips Healthcare.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the University of Chicago Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
Clinical trial registration statement: This study is not a registered clinical trial.
Informed consent statement: This study did not involve human subjects and therefore did not require informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Steffen Sammet, MD, PhD has received research funding from Philips Healthcare and fees as a consultant for Guerbet SA. Ari Partanen, PhD is an employee of Philips Healthcare. Shunmugavelu Sokka, PhD is an employee of Philips Healthcare. Aytekin Oto, MD has received research funding from Philips Healthcare and fees as a consultant for Guerbet SA.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Steffen Sammet, MD, PhD, DABR, FAMP, Associate Professor and Director of Clinical MR Physics, Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, MC2026, Chicago, IL 60615, United States. ssammet@uchicago.edu
Telephone: +1-773-7023162 Fax: +1-773-7021161
Received: February 7, 2015
Peer-review started: February 8, 2015
First decision: May 19, 2015
Revised: October 19, 2015
Accepted: November 24, 2015
Article in press: November 25, 2015
Published online: December 28, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Therapeutic ultrasound is a promising treatment modality for minimally invasive thermal ablation of tissue. This study assessed a novel trans-urethral ultrasound therapy device with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance to ablate canine prostate tissue in vivo. Real-time temperature monitoring and thermotherapy feedback control was performed in a clinical 3T whole-body MR scanner. Post-treatment evaluation of cavernous nerve functionality was performed with a nerve stimulator. Treatment accuracy was assessed by correlation of treatment planning, thermal dose maps, and histo-pathological results. Regions of thermal ablation were limited to areas within the prostate capsule and no damage was observed in adjacent anatomical structures. These results indicate that MRI-guided transurethral ultrasound therapy can accurately ablate prostatic regions with minimal damage to surrounding tissue.