New robotic 3D ultrasound could improve liver cancer treatment: Researchers

A new system that turns ultrasounds into 3D imaging could improve liver cancer treatment, according to a new study from Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University.

This new robotic 3D ultrasound may also make thermal ablation more accurate, according to Dr. Derek Cool, an assistant professor at the Schulich school of Medicine & Dentistry and associate scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ont.

Liver cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death globally. Researchers believe thermal ablation can have fewer complications and lead to a faster recovery for liver cancer patients as opposed to surgery, Cool said.

Thermal ablation is a procedure that uses heat to destroy cancerous tumors. When using thermal ablation for liver cancer, the radio frequency energy is used to destroy cancer cells.

With thermal ablation, a needle needs to be placed precisely in order to treat the cancer without damaging any organs or blood vessels surrounding it.

“We’re trying to improve the way we can place that needle and guide that needle to make sure we’re getting proper coverage of the tumor,” Cool explained.

Using data collected from 14 patients from the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), scientists from Lawson and Western found in their study that 3D technology could better guide the needle used in treatment.

“We developed a new 3D ultrasound method that shows promise in analyzing whether the complete liver tumour will be ablated by the procedure,” said Dr. Aaron Fenster, a professor at Schulich and a scientist at Robarts Research.

The simulated study researchers found that this new system could lead to complete coverage of the tumour in most cases, compared to standard imaging which showed only 64.3 percent coverage.

While using ultrasounds or CT imaging is more limited, ultrasounds are more readily available, however, it only shows a 2D image. CT scans provide a 3D image, but they can take longer to process and it isn't done in real-time.

Cool said their next step is to move on to a clinical trial. If it is proven to be effective, the robotic ultrasound could be used in smaller health care facilities and help limit patient’s wait times for imaging.