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

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.