Toward Intra-Operative Prostate Photoacoustic Imaging: Configuration Evaluation and Implementation Using the da Vinci Research Kit

• Published in: IEEE transactions on medical imaging Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 57 - 68
• Main Authors: Moradi, Hamid, Tang, Shuo, Salcudean, Septimiu E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.01.2019; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Axes of rotation; Configurations; Data acquisition; Directivity; Equipment Design; Humans; Image acquisition; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted - methods; Image reconstruction; Intraoperative Period; limited view; Male; Maneuvers; Photoacoustic effect; Photoacoustic Techniques - instrumentation; Photoacoustic Techniques - methods; Photoacoustic tomography; Probes; Prostate; Prostate - diagnostic imaging; Prostate - surgery; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Prostatic Neoplasms - surgery; robot-assisted surgery; Robotic Surgical Procedures - methods; Robots; Surgery; Tomography; transducer directionality; Transducers; Ultrasound
• ISSN: 0278-0062; 1558-254X
• DOI: 10.1109/TMI.2018.2855166

We compare different possible scanning geometries for prostate photoacoustic tomography (PAT) while considering a realistic reconstruction scenario in which the limited view of the prostate and the directivity effect of the transducer are considered. Simulations and experiments confirm that an intra-operative configuration in which the photoacoustic signal is received by a pickup transducer from the anterior surface of the prostate provides the best approach. We propose a PAT acquisition system that includes a da Vinci system controlled by the da Vinci Research Kit, an illumination laser, and an ultrasound machine with parallel data acquisition. The robot maneuvers the pickup transducer to form a cylindrical detection surface around the prostate. The robot is programmed to acquire trajectories in which the transducer face is parallel to and oriented toward a rotational tomography axis, while the laser is fired and PAT data are collected at regular intervals. We present our initial images acquired with this novel system.