A non-invasive concept for detecting and grading prostate cancer has been developed in our laboratory. It is based on the quantitative 3-D mapping of zinc in the prostate tissue. Extensive clinical studies on biopsy samples, at Sheba and Kaplan Medical Centers, showed that zinc is depleted in the cancerous prostate tissue, with the depletion magnitude increasing with the cancer grade. The mapping concept was shown to be clinically significant, with close-to-100% detection efficiency of high-grade cancers. It could therefore improve the disease management by providing important information on the tumor location and grade, from diagnosis to post-treatment follow-up. A method based on x-ray fluorescence (XRF) was developed, including a conceptual design of a non-invasive rectal probe. This zinc-based prostate-cancer project is currently under commercialization process.
Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics
Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics
Radiation Detection Physics
