DCH Regional Medical Center is now offering the UroNav system, which produces a targeted biopsy of the prostate.

The conventional method to obtain a prostate biopsy involves the urologist inserting an ultrasound probe into the patient's rectum. The urologist can only visualize the prostate on an ultrasound image on a monitor.

"It's hard to see the whole prostate, and locate a tumor with a biopsy needle using only an ultrasound probe," said Matthew Thom, MD, a urologist with West Alabama Urology Associates. "The UroNav fusion biopsy system overlays MRI images that were made before the biopsy with ultrasound images we're capturing during the procedure."

A computer program merges the MRI and ultrasound images to give the urologist a view of the prostate that allows him to target the biopsy needle to the suspicious lesion

"Targeted MRI/ultrasound biopsy is poised to become the new standard in prostate care," said Howard Winfield, MD.