Degree
Master of Engineering Science
Program
Biomedical Engineering
Supervisor
Dr. Aaron Ward
Abstract
Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most prevalent cancers among men. Early diagnosis can improve survival and reduce treatment costs. Current inter-radiologist variability for detection of PCa is high. The use of multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) with machine learning algorithms has been investigated both for improving PCa detection and for PCa diagnosis. Widespread clinical implementation of computer-assisted PCa lesion characterization remains elusive; critically needed is a model that is validated against a histologic reference standard that is densely sampled in an unbiased fashion. We address this using our technique for highly accurate fusion of mpMRI with whole-mount digitized histology of the surgical specimen. In this thesis, we present models for characterization of malignant, benign and confounding tissue and aggressiveness of PCa. Further validation on a larger dataset could enable improved characterization performance, improving survival rates and enabling a more personalized treatment plan.
Recommended Citation
Soetemans, Derek J., "Computer-Assisted Characterization of Prostate Cancer on Magnetic Resonance Imaging" (2017). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4504.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4504