Prostate cancer is one of the most diagnosed cancer in men. Several treatments are available depending on patient's clinical features. When the cancer is localised or locally advanced, one of the possible treatment is Radical Prostatectomy. A risk of that procedure is the incomplete removal of cancer tissues due to the presence of cancer cells within the resection margin. A histological analysis of the resected prostate allows to assess surgical margins. If cancer cells comes out to the edges of the removed tissue, it is called Positive Surgical Margin (PSM). Several studies showed that PSMs are more frequent in case of extra-prostatic extensions of the cancer and are correlated with biochemical recurrence.
A study conducted on 21 patients scheduled for Robotic-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy has already demonstrated the feasibility of the intra-operative observation of microscopic features of prostatic and periprostatic tissues in vivo and ex vivo with the Cellvizio® 100 Series system combined with the CelioFlex™ probe.
The main objective of the study is to assess the feasibility and safety of pCLE technology during radical prostatectomy (RP) and to assess the diagnostic performance of pCLE technology for the definition of the resection margins.
This method could be used to guide surgeons during nerve sparing surgery and provide real-time feedback for adequate dissection of NVB. As well, ex vivo characterisation of benign and cancerous glandular structures could provide an efficient and rapid method for intra-operative surgical margin assessment
The study is divided in 2 parts:
1. Ex vivo study
An ex vivo study will be carried out on 15 firsts prostate specimens for pathologist training and generation of ex vivo pCLE images atlas.
2. In vivo study
Prior to pCLE analysis, a contrast agent (Fluorescein) will be administered:
* by intravenous injection in each prostatic pedicles before their ligation
* topically, after NVB dissection, in a spray solution through a catheter inserted in an assistant trocar or with a soaked gauze.
The Cellvizio will be used during the NVB dissection to acquire in vivo images and sequences of prostatic tissues.
