Radiologist Dr. Nicola Schieda works on algorithms to improve the non-invasive diagnosis of kidney and prostate cancers using MRI and CT scans.  

These scans are currently used to determine if kidney masses are benign or cancerous, but Dr. Schieda also wants to be able to use them to tell which kidney cancers are aggressive or slow-growing. He co-authored the 2019 update to the Bosniak Classification of Cystic Renal Masses, which tells specialists which cystic masses in the kidney are benign or potentially cancerous.

Dr. Schieda is also co-leading a randomized controlled trial comparing The Ottawa Hospital’s newly acquired transperineal biopsy system, a prostate biopsy technique where the needle goes through the perineum to avoid the rectum, with traditional transrectal biopsy. The team wants to find out which method provides the highest yield for prostate cancer diagnosis, and how well they perform for different locations in the prostate.

Dr. Schieda was recently appointed as an Associate Scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He is a Radiologist at The Ottawa Hospital and an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa. He is the incoming Co-Chair of the Society of Abdominal Radiology Disease Focused Panel on Renal Cell Carcinoma and Section Editor for Genitourinary Imaging at the American Journal of Roentgenology.

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.