A prostate mechanical imaging (PMI) system creates color two-dimensional (2D) and 3D maps of the prostate in real time such that when in agreement with a digital rectal examination (DRE) finding, can be permanently stored in electronic records for future analysis and comparison.

ProUroCare Medical, Inc. (Minneapolis, St. Paul, MN, USA), a provider of medical imaging products, reported it has received clearance from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its ProUroScan PMI system. The approval opens the way for men and their families to receive high-resolution visual documentations as an aid in detecting prostate abnormalities that were previously detected by DRE.

ProUroCare’s patented tactile elasticity imaging technology, which uses a handheld pressure-sensing rectal probe and advanced image construction software to produce its prostate maps, represents a new imaging modality distinct from conventional ultrasound imaging.

The company plans to introduce the technology in 2012 to a limited number of major US medical care centers in key major metropolitan markets. ProUroCare has been actively seeking a strategic corporate partner with a strong sales and in-service support presence in the urologic market to fully commercialize its technology.

“This is a major milestone for the company, for physicians looking for more assurance and documentation in their evaluations and for men eager for more information to assess and make decisions about their prostate health,” said Rick Carlson, CEO of ProUroCare Medical. “A color image can go a long way in documenting a person’s prostate condition, and this development puts us one step closer to supplementing other screening measures with a helpful, high quality visual aid that can be referred and compared to over time.”

As a standard of care, the American Urological Association (AUA) currently recommends that beginning at age 40, men receive a DRE and a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test in their annual physical exam, however data from community-based studies suggest the positive predictive values of DRE and PSA combined achieve only a 56% predictive value. Furthermore, neither test creates a physical or visual record of the prostate. The ProUroScan system is being introduced as an adjunctive technology to a DRE for physicians to use to additionally clarify and validate abnormalities associated with the prostate gland.

“Having a visual aid of irregularities can be so helpful to physicians and patients, particularly in the area of prostate care where decision-making is often difficult,” said Dr. Robert Weiss, a urologic oncologist with the Cancer Institute of New Jersey (New Brunswick, NJ, USA) and a faculty member at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (New Brunswick, NJ, USA), who used the ProUroScan technology as part of its clinical trial process. “The quality and resolution of the images are excellent, providing an immensely valuable supplement to the DRE, where physicians must rely on a gloved finger to feel for changes in the size and shape of the gland.”

The FDA filings were supported by data from a 2009 National Institute of Health and National Cancer Institute-supported clinical study of patients evaluated at five leading US medical centers, as well as an earlier study conducted specifically at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center.

ProUroCare Medical is a company engaged in the business of creating novel medical imaging products. Approved to make real-time, color images of men’s prostate glands, ProUroCare will next pilot the clinical technology in select medical centers.

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