The size of broom handle, Procure is a dedicated, diaper-like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) coil that positions antennae as closely as possible to the prostate and penis. The product is inserted directly into the rectum to capture diagnostic images and allow physicians to perform biopsies.
The device particularly is useful in helping improve cancer detection in men. The National Cancer Institute ranks prostate cancer as the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American men.
Men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels often receive a "blind" biopsy and given a clean bill of health even though such biopsies are reported in various peer reviewed scientific literature to yield between 50 percent and 90 percent false negatives (meaning the cancer went undetected). Experts claim there are limited treatment options when prostate cancer grows undetected, with the choices complete removal of the prostate (a prostatectomy) or thermal ablation of the entire organ.
"The bottom line is that all we've had to work with up until now are invasive procedures that leave men incontinent, impotent, or both," said President/CEO Randall Jones, Ph.D. "I've heard doctors compare obtaining non-image guided 'blind' biopsies to shooting arrows in the dark, which seems inexcusable in the realm of 21st century medicine. MRI is completely changing that paradigm. When I began to fully understand the implications and lack of options that patients have, I knew that I had to innovate a product that could greatly reduce the number of unwarranted invasive biopsies as well as provide a reliable and affordable means of early detection using MRI."
The Procure Coil was born from Jones's evaluation of the current MRI tools available, non-dedicated antennae (coils) and endo-rectal coils that produced inadequate image quality or great reluctance or refusal of use respectively, according to company executives. The latter coil, as the name implies, is a broom handle size inflatable antennae that is inserted into the rectum in order to obtain diagnostic images of the prostate. Procure positions multiple antennae elements as close as possible to the target anatomies (the prostate and reproductive organs) regardless of patient size.
Jones, a native Nebraskan, recently was awarded his 11th patent for the Procure coil. He founded ScanMed in 2006 and has since developed other MRI coil products such as the flexible blanket coil, head/spine arrays, and Legacy MRI coils. The Omaha, Neb.-based firm engineers, manufactures, repairs and refurbishes MRI coils.