Profound Medical’s ultrasound applicator for the treatment of prostate cancer combines MRI for the detection of structural abnormalities in the body with ceramic motors for precise positioning.

Developers of a tissue-coagulation device expect it to treat prostate cancer in a fraction of the time and cost of existing methods. Profound Medical Inc, Toronto, uses MRI for the detection of structural abnormalities in the body and a proprietary ultrasound applicator for prostate treatment. Ceramic servo motors by Johnson Medtech, Shelton, CT control the probe, which heats and destroys cancerous tissue.

Magnetic fields and metal components in conventional electric motors made it impossible for motorized medical devices to function within MRI equipment. To solve the problem, engineers selected nonmagnetic piezo ultrasonic motors from Johnson Medtech to position the probe.

Johnson Medtech ceramic servo motors control a medical tool while an MRI detects structural abnormalities in the body. The motors are made without magnetic materials and therefore have no magnetic fields, thereby eliminating potential artifacts on an MRI display screen.

Low-speed actuators in the coagulation device let doctors operate the probe on a microscopic for nanometer positioning. Treatment now takes just one visit. Older radiation methods require nine to 12 weekly one-hour treatments.

Prostate cancer afflicts millions of men around the world, with an estimated 400,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Even treatments with high success levels have been leaving patients with permanent impotency and incontinence. PMI’s tissue-coagulation device is said to treat prostate cancer as well as or better than radiation, and as preclinical research suggests, with fewer side effects. Profound Medical’s device was initially developed at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, by CTO Michael Bronskill and Chief Science Officer Rajiv Chopra.