[Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment]
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men over the age of 50. According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 186,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and over 28,000 will die from the disease in 2008. Currently, there are approximately 42 million men in the U.S. over the age of 50. For men in this age category, the standard of care to screen for the presence of prostate cancer is to have a physical exam each year in which two tests are routinely performed, the digital rectal examination (“DRE”) and the Prostate Specific Antigen (“PSA”) blood test. Although used for many years, the specificity of these tests has been widely questioned. Data from community based studies suggest that the positive predictive value of a DRE for prostate cancer is 15% to 30% and varies relatively little with age. For elevated PSA levels between 4 and 10ng/mL, the positive predictive value is approximately 20%. For studies in which biopsies were done when the results of either test were abnormal, 18% to 26% of screened patients had suspicious results, cancer was actually detected in approximately 4% of screened patients and the positive predictive value of the tests combined was 15% to 21%. In another study involving 6,630 volunteers, the combination of DRE and PSA detected 26% more cancers than PSA alone. Although PSA and DRE provide some positive predictive value, neither of these tests creates a physical or visual record of the abnormality or its position in the prostate.
If a patient is suspected of having an abnormal tissue formation in the prostate as a result of a positive DRE or a high PSA value, he is generally referred to a urologist. A urologist will usually perform his own DRE and may decide to perform a prostate biopsy to obtain tissue samples for microscopic analysis. The prostate is biopsied by a needle that is guided by ultrasound into the prostate through the rectal wall. Since the existence and exact location of possible cancerous tissue is not known, the urologist will usually take 10 to 14 samples in a scattered pattern throughout the prostate in an attempt to find the suspect tissue. Of the approximately 1 million biopsy procedures done each year in the United States only approximately 25 percent actually detect the presence of cancer. The low predictive ability of the DRE and PSA tests to gauge the presence of cancer tends to over-inflate the number of referrals for invasive biopsy than are necessary to confirm that a patient has cancer.
We believe there is a market need to be able to visualize and create an electronic record (map) that can show the relative size and position of abnormal tissue in the prostate gland. We believe that the ProUroScan System offers a solution that meets these needs and one that will (assuming we apply for and obtain FDA approval or clearance for this indication) enable physicians to monitor and compare images of the prostate over time. With additional development and further FDA approvals, we believe the ProUroScan System may eventually be used to guide prostate biopsy and assess the effect of medical treatments of Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (“BPH”).
Prostate Cancer Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment
The two most common screening tests for identifying prostate cancer are the DRE and the PSA. These tests have been used for years, but have often been criticized for their lack of specificity and selectivity.
In a DRE exam, a physician wearing a latex glove inserts a lubricated finger into the rectum to palpate the prostate gland to detect abnormalities. The clinician must rely on his or her experience and sensitivity of touch to estimate the size of the prostate and detect irregularities in shape or hardness. There is significant subjectivity inherent in the DRE exam which can be negatively affected by poor examiner training, lack of experience or poor ability to interpret the results, as well as other patient related limitations including excessive obesity, patient discomfort and unusual anatomical positioning of the prostate.
Data from community-based studies indicate that the positive predictive value of a DRE in detecting cancer is 15% to 30% and varies relatively little with age. In a Scandinavian study, the positive predictive value of DRE was found to be only 22% to 29%. According to the Eighth Edition of Campbell’s Urology, a DRE has only fair reproducibility even with experienced examiners and the test misses a substantial proportion of cancers before they become advanced and less amenable to treatment.
The other primary screening test for detecting prostate cancer is the measurement of PSA in serum. The advantages offered by PSA testing are its simplicity, objectivity, reproducibility and low level of invasiveness. Although PSA is specific to prostate tissue, it is not specific to prostate cancer. Older men that have benign enlargement of the prostate and acute prostatitis often have elevated PSA levels. Serum levels of PSA can also be elevated for a period of time after transrectal needle biopsy, acute urinary retention and prostate surgery. Because of the prevalence of these conditions in men over the age of 50, the positive predictive value of PSA measurements decreases with age.
In clinical practice, a PSA level greater than 4ng/mL is generally considered an abnormal result. Recent community-based studies show that PSA levels greater than 4ng/mL are seen in about 15% of men who are older than 50 years of age. The probability, or positive predictive value, that a man who is older than 50 having prostate cancer if his PSA level is elevated is approximately 20% to 30%. However, the likelihood of cancer depends on the degree of elevation in the PSA levels. For levels between 4 and 10ng/mL, the positive predictive value is about 20 percent. This value increases to between 42 percent and 64 percent if the PSA level is greater than 10ng/nL. Despite these variances, PSA testing has increased the detection rate of early-stage prostate cancers, which are more curable than late-stage cancers.
Most clinicians have adopted the strategy of performing both tests in combination, which has been shown to increase the combined predictive value. In fact, in a large study of volunteers, the combination of DRE and PSA detected 26% more cancers than PSA alone. However, because of the significant risk of prostate cancer, prostate biopsy is recommended for all men who have DRE abnormalities, regardless of PSA level, because 25% of men with cancer have PSA levels less than 4mg/nL.
A patient with a positive DRE or an elevated PSA is typically referred to a urologist for further diagnosis. The urologist will usually perform a prostate biopsy to obtain tissue samples for microscopic analysis. The prostate is biopsied by a needle that is guided by ultrasound into the prostate through the rectal wall. Since the existence and exact location of possible cancerous tissue is not known, the urologist will usually take 10 to 14 samples in a scattered pattern throughout the prostate in an attempt to find the suspect tissue. The tissue samples are then sent to a laboratory for analysis and interpretation, and the results are reported several days later. If the results are negative or indeterminate, the urologist may suggest a second biopsy procedure, or that the patient increase the frequency of future screening examinations. According to Oregon Health and Science University, approximately 1 million patients are biopsied each year in the United States, but only approximately 25% of biopsy procedures performed detects the presence of cancer.
The treatment path for patients who test positive for prostate cancer depends on many variables, including age, location and pathology of the cancerous tissue and general health of the patient. Generally, a younger, otherwise healthy patient will elect to have the prostate removed to eliminate the possibility that it might spread beyond the prostate. Older, less healthy patients may elect not to undergo surgery, and instead monitor the disease closely by semi-annual PSA and DRE exams, and annual biopsies. This monitoring regimen is commonly referred to as “active surveillance.” Some patients may elect radiation or drug treatments, in addition to necessary ongoing active surveillance. The National Cancer Institute estimates that there are approximately 2 million men alive who have a history of cancer of the prostate. On this basis, we estimate that the number of men over the last decade that have elected against prostate removal and thus are undergoing ongoing active surveillance exceeds one million.