A study looking at high resolution ultrasound to diagnose prostate cancer

Cancer type:

Prostate cancer

Status:

Open

Phase:

Other

This study is looking at using 2 different contrast mediums Open a glossary item used in ultrasounds that might give a better picture of the prostate.

It is open to people who are due to have surgery to remove their prostate.

More about this trial

To diagnose prostate cancer doctors usually take samples of the prostate tissue (biopsies Open a glossary item ). They usually do this with a trans rectal ultrasound (TRUS). They call this a trans rectal ultrasound guided biopsy.

In this study the team will use super-resolution ultrasound imaging (SRI). Doctors already use SRI in other diseases but not prostate cancer. They think SRI might give a clearer view of the prostate. And so might be able to detect cancer in the prostate earlier.

To find this out they first need to see how well SRI works when using it to look at the prostate.

In this study you have your surgery as normal. The team use SRI before the surgeon begins the operation.

The 2 different contrast mediums the team is using are:

Sonovue
Luminity

You have only 1 of these contrast mediums.

The aims of this study are to see:

whether SRI is better at detecting prostate cancer
which contrast medium is best

Please note you will not benefit directly if you take part in the study. The results of this study might help people in the future who have prostate cancer.

Who can enter

The following bullet points are a summary of the entry conditions for this trial. Talk to your doctor or the trial team if you are unsure about any of these. They will be able to advise you.

Who can take part

You may be able to join this study if all of the following apply. You:

have or might have prostate cancer
are due to have surgery to remove your prostate (radical prostatectomy) as your main treatment
are able to have a trans rectal ultrasound. Your doctor will know if you can.

Who can’t take part

You cannot join this study if any of these apply. You:

have a heart problem . Your doctor checks this before you take part in the study.
are allergic or sensitive to the contrast mediums used for the ultrasound in this study

Trial design

The team need 25 people to take part.

You have your prostate surgery as normal.

You have a general anaesthetic Open a glossary item . You then have either an injection or a drip containing 1 of the contrast mediums (Sonovue or Luminity). Before your operation you have an ultrasound probe put in your back passage.

The contrast medium shows up the prostate on the screen of the ultrasound. The radiologist Open a glossary item takes pictures of the prostate. This takes between 20 and 40 minutes.

Samples for research
The team might take and store any normal tissue and prostate cancer tissue that is left over from surgery that might be discarded. Researchers might use this tissue in future research to find out more about prostate cancer.