Dec 4, 2023
Arun Menawat, CEO of Profound Medical, discusses the challenges of treating prostate cancer and how traditional treatments like prostate removal or radiation often result in side effects and complications. While historically, a PSA blood test has been used for diagnosis, an MRI provides a more precise and efficient diagnostic tool. In addition, Profound is using real-time MRI-guided thermal ultrasound to precisely target and kill cancer cells while maintaining vital functions.
Arun explains, "MRI is the best way to really diagnose prostate cancer. And because you can see inside, you can see the cellular structure and that is what's important when physicians review. Our primary message is if you're using the MRI to diagnose, why would you not use that MRI also to treat the patient? Because you can see the urethra where urine is flowing. You can see the ejaculatory duct, where it merges with the urethra. You can get a very good idea of where the nerve bundles are."
"Our technology is a combination of using real-time MRI, and we use a very safe way of keeping the urethra at body temperature. Still, we use ultrasound to gently heat the tissue just to kill temperature, typically about 55° Centigrade. So think about this: Men will go into the MR, they will be asleep, they won’t feel anything. We insert a catheter right into the center of the prostate. We have water flowing through it, so the urethra that is for urine is always safe. Then we supply some ultrasound through that catheter, and the sound gets absorbed by the prostate tissue, which gently heats. The MRI that we use for imaging, also in real-time, gives us the temperature of the prostate."
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