Visualizing the early-stage testicular torsion by dual-modal photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging

Mengyu Zhou; Luting Zhang; Jianwen Zeng; Yintao Lan; Fengbing He; Weijian Gao; Jinghang Li; Qian Wang; Weisheng Guo; Zhen Yuan; Jian Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100523

Visualizing the early-stage testicular torsion by dual-modal photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging

Photoacoustics. 2023 Jun 9:31:100523. doi: 10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100523. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Mengyu Zhou^{1

2}, Luting Zhang¹, Jianwen Zeng², Yintao Lan³, Fengbing He¹, Weijian Gao¹, Jinghang Li¹, Qian Wang¹, Weisheng Guo¹, Zhen Yuan⁴, Jian Zhang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Biomedical Engineering, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
² Guangdong Engine Research Center of Urinary Continence and Reproductive Medicine, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Qingyuan, Guangdong, China.
³ Bioland Laboratory (Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health-Guangdong Laboratory), Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
⁴ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macao, Macao, China.

Abstract

Delayed treatment of testicular torsion (TT) can lead to permanent loss of reproductive capacity. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and ultrasound imaging (USI) was tested for detecting TT at early stage in mice based on PAI-obtained oxygen saturation (sO₂), and USI-collected color pixel density (CPD), peak systolic velocity (PSV) and resistance index (RI). For complete TT, both CPD (9.08 % ± 3.084 to almost zero) and sO₂ data (70.09 % ± 1.656-59.84 % ± 1.427) showed an significant change 2 h post-torsion. For incomplete TT, sO₂ data exhibited a strong time relationship (Mean values: 6 h, 64.83 % ± 1.898; 12 h, 60.67 % ± 3.555; 24 h, 57.85 % ± 3.575; P < 0.05). However, USI-collected CPD, PSV or IR data from the same TT models showed no significant difference. This study indicated that USI and PAI could identify complete TT. Meanwhile, PAI has shown great potential in the diagnosis of incomplete TT within 24 h based on time-related sO₂ map.

Keywords: Blood oxygen saturation; Photoacoustic imaging; Testicular torsion; Torsion time; Ultrasound imaging.