New ultrasound device at Royal Surrey detects prostate cancer more accurately
There are only four machines of this kind in use by NHS Trusts in EnglandDo
It is hoped a new £100,000 machine at the Royal Surrey will enable doctors to detect prostate cancer much more accurately.
The ultrasound device has been delivered to the Stokes Centre in Guildford by local charity the Prostate Project.
It fuses images from an MRI scan with the live ultrasound image.
There are only four machines of its type currently in use by NHS Trusts across England.
The Stokes Centre for Urology opened at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust last year.
It was funded by a £3million donation from the Prostate Project, matched by £3million from Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust.
Speaking about the new Hitachi Ultrasound machine, Professor Langley, Director of Cancer Services at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, explains:
"The best way to detect prostate cancer in our patients is by carrying out an MRI to see if there are any suspicious areas which might represent cancer.
"However, we use ultrasound when we take biopsies from the prostate to verify whether cancer is present.
"Unfortunately, abnormalities are often invisible using this technique and it can be difficult to accurately target the area of suspicion within the gland.
"This new machine will enable us to fuse together the MRI and ultrasound images in real-time.
"This is invaluable when we are taking the biopsies and enables us to detect prostate cancer much more accurately.
"It will also reduce the need to unnecessarily biopsy parts of the gland that are very unlikely to contain cancer so is less invasive for patients."