# Development of a combined ARFI/SWEI ultrasound elasticity imaging system for targeted prostate biopsy guidance

> **NIH NIH F31** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $37,876

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States, and early detection is crucial for
effective treatment or management. Following an initial screening for prostate cancer based on elevated
prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels or suspicious digital rectal exam, the current clinical standard of care for
diagnosis is a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy, in which 10 to 12 systematically sampled cores are
taken and examined. Because the TRUS procedure is guided by conventional B-mode ultrasound imaging, in
which prostate cancer does not typically have a unique appearance, the biopsy cores are sampled from a
predetermined grid of locations throughout the gland, and are not specifically targeted to cancer-suspicious
regions. As a result, there is often a need for repeat biopsies when the first biopsy fails to detect cancer. Recent
studies have demonstrated the ability of alternative imaging modalities, such as multiparametric MRI (mpMRI)
or contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), to provide imaging guidance for a targeted prostate biopsy. These
techniques have drawbacks, however, including challenges with registering the mpMRI volume with the real-
time B-mode ultrasound image during the biopsy, or the need to inject microbubble contrast agents into the
patient’s vasculature for CEUS imaging. The goal of this proposal is to develop a low-cost, clinic-ready 3D
ultrasound elasticity imaging system to guide a targeted biopsy that is specific for clinically significant
disease in the prostate. Previous work has demonstrated that prostate cancer is stiffer than the surrounding
healthy tissue and can thus be imaged using ultrasonic acoustic radiation force-based techniques. The proposed
system will simultaneously acquire two elasticity imaging modes: acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging
and shear wave elasticity imaging (SWEI), in order to create high-resolution, quantitative stiffness maps of the
prostate. I hypothesize that using combined 3D ARFI/SWEI prostate volumes to guide a targeted biopsy for
prostate cancer will result in improved diagnostic sensitivity and staging accuracy compared to current transrectal
ultrasound standard-of-care biopsy. In this proposed work, I will develop advanced ARFI/SWEI reconstruction
methods in order to examine the tradeoff between the number and intensity of acoustic radiation force excitations,
transducer heating, and reconstructed image quality. In particular, I will use specialized finite-element simulation
tools to compare different ultrasonic imaging sequences and implement these sequences on a state-of-the-art
commercial ultrasound scanner. In order to evaluate these sequences in an in vitro setting, I will acquire
combined ARFI/SWEI data in custom tissue-mimicking prostate anatomy phantoms. From here, I will assess the
performance of the 3D ARFI/SWEI imaging system in a clinical setting, by using the system to obtain targeted
biopsy cores in patients with suspect...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10142570
- **Project number:** 1F31CA257439-01
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Derek Yu Xuan Chan
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $37,876
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-03-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10142570

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10142570, Development of a combined ARFI/SWEI ultrasound elasticity imaging system for targeted prostate biopsy guidance (1F31CA257439-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10142570. Licensed CC0.

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