UCLA performed Its First MR-guided laser ablation of prostate cancer

Dr Steven Raman of Radiology and Dr Leonard Marks of Urology performed the first MR guided laser ablation of prostate cancer at UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital yesterday. This was part of a small safety trial ongoing at UCLA.

About prostate cancer:

from www.northshorelij.com

Prostate cancer occurs in about 30,000 men in the United States. However, standard treatment for prostate cancer such as surgery (i.e. prostatectomy) have high morbidity (i.e. impotence and urinary incontinence). Emerging technology to perform a male version of "lumpectomy"is being studied and include focal ablations using focused ultrasound surgery and laser ablation. These are done under MRI guidance which provides exquisite soft tissue details and anatomy and allows the interventionist to accurately target the region of interest and avoid
off-target regions, such as the nerves which innervate the penis.

Therapies for prostate cancer:
MR-guided laser ablation of prostate cancer is advantageous because it is an outpatient procedure, patients do not require general anesthesia, and the risk of impotence and urinary incontinence is theoretically low.

Visualase Laser Ablation:
A small catheter is inserted into the prostate cancer under MRI guidance. The tip of the laser burns the prostate cancer and kills the tumor. The extent of tumor ablation can be assessed under MRI. The procedure lasts 1-3 hours based on how many cancers are being treated. Patients go home the same day.


For any questions regarding interest in this study or about this procedure in general, visit the UCLA Radiology Prostate Imaging website.

UCLA + Epic = easier clinical research

UCLA changed over to Epic health records system almost two years ago and it's been a bit of an adjustment for most of us. But, I love it now and I can't imaging going back to the old ways.

One of the main advantages of Epic is the ability to do research a lot quicker. To do clinical studies, my colleagues and I would often have to filter the imaging records (PACS) and health records for patients who meet the study's criteria. Doing this manually took many months sometimes. But, now I've discovered that we can query the Epic system like we would a database. How awesome is that! This is going to save me and my team so much time doing dull (yet important) task that can be handed over to the computer. We're going to do our first search soon so I'll keep you updated.

I'm really excited about Epic and the ability to expedite the clinical studies. We're also really lucky because we have the UCLA CTSI team who are ready to assist us.