|
NEW DEVICE MAY EASE MRI BREAST BIOPSY PROCEDURE
25 April 2002 - University of Wisconsin-Madison
| With breast cancer, early detection may mean the difference between life and death. Today's doctors are increasingly using magnetic resonance imaging to find tiny masses of suspicious breast tissue they cannot see with conventional mammography or ultrasound. |
However, the biopsy procedure coupled with this emerging breast-imaging technology is cumbersome and time consuming. A new device developed by UW-Madison students and faculty may bring that procedure up to date as well. "I suspect that one of the inhibiting factors holding back breast MRI is the very fact that biopsy is complicated compared to biopsy with mammography or ultrasound," says Frederick Kelcz, associate professor of radiology. In current MRI biopsy procedures, radiologists must make several manual adjustments until the biopsy needle is in the vicinity of the suspicious tissue, says Kelcz. "All this takes time," he says. Seeking a more efficient, precise method, Kelcz turned to undergraduate engineering students in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Professor Frank Fronczak's biomedical engineering design courses. "I thought this would be a good project for engineering students-to devise a positioner so the radiologist can stay out of the MRI room and do all of the positioning remotely," says Kelcz. "Then he or she would only enter the room when it was time to actually do the biopsy." Created by then-students Bill Andrae, Eric Dvorak and Justin Kolterman, the new device features a computer-driven needle positioner that radiologists can operate and adjust from the MRI control room. Because operators adjust the positioner from the MRI control room via computer-generated coordinates, the device not only may improve biopsy accuracy, but also may reduce the biopsy time from an hour to about 20 minutes. So that the positioner doesn't interfere with the MRI's magnets, the students built a rough prototype from molded-plastic parts and stainless-steel cylinders. They successfully tested it on nonliving material, and Dvorak, now a medical student at UW-Madison, hopes a medical systems company will exhibit interest in manufacturing the invention. Kelcz, Fronczak and the students are patenting it through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
http://www.wisc.edu
About: University of Wisconsin-Madison
In achievement and prestige, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has long been recognized as one of America’s great universities. A public, land-grant institution, UW-Madison offers a complete spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs and student activities. Many of its programs are hailed as world leaders in instruction, research and public service.The university traces its roots to a clause in the Wisconsin Constitution, which decreed that the state should have a prominent public university. In 1848, Nelson Dewey, Wisconsin’s first governor, signed the act that formally created the university, and its first class, with 17 students, met in a Madison school building on February 5, 1849. From those humble beginnings, the university has grown into a large, diverse community, with about 40,000 students enrolled each year. These students represent every state in the nation, as well as countries from around the globe, making for a truly international population. UW-Madison is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Wisconsin System, a statewide network of 13 comprehensive universities, 13 freshman-sophomore transfer colleges and an extension service. One of two doctorate-granting universities in the system, UW-Madison’s specific mission is to provide "a learning environment in which faculty, staff and students can discover, examine critically, preserve and transmit the knowledge, wisdom and values that will help insure the survival of this and future generations and improve the quality of life for all." The university achieves these ends through innovative programs of research, teaching and public service. Throughout its history, UW-Madison has sought to bring the power of learning into the daily lives of its students through innovations such as residential learning communities and service-learning opportunities. Students also participate freely in research, which has led to life-improving inventions from more fuel-efficient engines to cutting-edge genetic therapies. Students, faculty and staff are motivated by a tradition known as the "Wisconsin Idea," described by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904 as the compelling need to carry "the beneficent influence of the university ... to every home in the state." The Wisconsin Idea permeates the university’s work and helps forge close working relationships among university faculty and students and the state’s industries and government. |
More News:
• For April 2002
• From University of Wisconsin-Madison
• For University
|
