Photoacoustic tomography of intact human prostates and vascular texture analysis identify prostate cancer biopsy targets

Prostate cancer is poorly visualized on ultrasonography (US) so that current biopsy requires either a templated technique or guidance after fusion of US with magnetic resonance imaging. Here we determined the ability for photoacoustic tomography (PAT) and US followed by texture-based image processing to identify prostate biopsy targets. K-means clustering feature learning and testing was performed on separate datasets comprised of 1064 and 1197 nm PAT and US images of intact, ex vivo human prostates. 1197 nm PAT was found to not contribute to the feature learning, and thus, only 1064 nm PAT and US images were used for final feature testing. Biopsy targets, determined by the tumor-assigned pixels’ center of mass, located 100% of the primary lesions and 67% of the secondary lesions. In conclusion, 1064 nm PAT and US texture-based feature analysis provided successful prostate biopsy targets. Keywords: Photoacoustic imaging, Prostate, Targeted biopsy, K-means clustering, Texture image processing