Dr. Silvia Chang

Dr. Chang is a Radiologist at Vancouver General Hospital and Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of British Columbia.  Dr. Chang completed her Medical Degree and her Diagnostic Radiology Residency at the University of British Columbia.  She then completed an Abdominal Imaging Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.  Following her fellowship, she returned to Vancouver to become a staff radiologist at VGH and established the Abdominal MRI program at VGH, which she is the Head. Her area of interest and expertise is abdominal imaging, particularly liver MRI and prostate MRI with multiple publications and invited presentations at local, national and international meetings in these areas.  She helped establish and runs the Prostate MRI-US Fusion Program at VGH; and initiated and co-chairs the MRI Prostate Tumour Conference.  She also has an interest in medical education having served as the UBC Radiology Residency Program Director and is currently the Abdominal Imaging Fellowship Director and an Examiner for the Royal College and Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She is a reviewer for several journals including Radiology and Canadian Association Radiologists Journal and has served on several RSNA committees, including Chair of the GU section of the Educational Exhibits Committee. She became a Fellow of the Society of Abdominal Radiology in March 2013 and is a member of the Prostate Cancer Disease Focus Panel of the Society of Abdominal Radiology, in which she is the Co-Chair of the Education Subcommittee.

Research Focus

Dr. Chang’s areas of research are in medical education and abdominal imaging, particularly prostate cancer and liver imaging. Her team is investigating a new MRI technique, luminal water imaging, with a recent article published in Radiology and JMR. Other areas of research include machine learning technology on multi-parametric ultrasound, including elastography and temporal ultrasound.

Example Project

“Development and Testing of New Imaging Techniques for Prostate Cancer Diagnosis” 

Multi-parametric (mp)MRI is the current diagnostic standard for imaging the prostate, which combines traditional anatomical T2-weighed sequences with newer functional techniques such as diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and dynamic contrast enhancement (DCE). However, there are still limitations to this technique. For example, some patients may have metal implants such as hip prothesis, which will make the DWI sequences non-diagnostic or may not be able to undergo DCE due to underlying impaired renal function or contrast allergy. We aim to develop new techniques to overcome these challenges, as well as develop techniques that can decrease scan time.  We aim to also utilize AI to aid the radiologist in more accurate detection and characterization of prostate lesions.  This will also aid in reducing the time to interpret these comprehensive exams.

Research Keywords

Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Abdominal Imaging, Liver Cancer, Prostate Cancer