Testicular torsion diagnosis and injury assessment using photoacoustic oxygenation imaging

Qianru Yang; Lulu Yang; Chihan Peng; Xiaoxia Zhu; Zhenru Wu; Lin Huang; Yan Luo

doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100499

Testicular torsion diagnosis and injury assessment using photoacoustic oxygenation imaging

Photoacoustics. 2023 Apr 25:31:100499. doi: 10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100499. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Qianru Yang¹, Lulu Yang¹, Chihan Peng¹, Xiaoxia Zhu¹, Zhenru Wu², Lin Huang³, Yan Luo¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ultrasound, West China Hospital/West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China.
² Institute of Clinical Pathology, Key Laboratory of Transplant Engineering and Immunology, NHC, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Electronic Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Testicular torsion (TT) is a medical emergency that requires immediate diagnostic evaluation. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) has the potential to provide spatially resolved oxygen saturation (sO₂), which can serve as a valuable marker in TT diagnosis. We investigated the potential of PAI as an alternative method for TT diagnosis and testicular injury assessment. We measured sO₂ levels in different degrees of TT models using PAI at various time points. Based on histopathological results, we found that the averaged sO₂ per pixel ( $\overset{®}{s O_{2}}$ ) and reduction of $\overset{®}{s O_{2}}$ (rsO₂) in twisted testicles had significant correlations with hypoxic conditions. Both $\overset{®}{s O_{2}}$ and rsO₂ exhibited excellent diagnostic abilities in detecting TT and identifying ischemia/hypoxia injury following TT. Furthermore, PAI-measured sO₂ demonstrated favorable diagnostic capabilities in discriminating if the testicle had suffered irreversible injury. In summary, PAI presents a potentially promising novel approach in evaluating TT and warrants further clinical investigation.

Keywords: Oxygen saturation; Photoacoustic imaging; Testicular torsion.