Abstract
Purpose Prostate imaging to guide biopsy remains unsatisfactory, with current solutions suffering from high complexity and poor accuracy and reliability. One novel entrant into this field is microultrasound (microUS), which uses a high frequency imaging probe to achieve very high spatial resolution, and achieves prostate cancer detection rates equivalent to multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI). However, the ExactVu transrectal microUS probe has a unique geometry that makes it challenging to acquire controlled, repeatable three-dimensional (3D) transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) volumes. We describe the design, fabrication, and validation of a 3D acquisition system that allows for the accurate use of the ExactVu microUS device for volumetric prostate imaging.
Methods The design uses a motorized, computer-controlled brachytherapy stepper to rotate the ExactVu transducer about its axis. We carry geometric validation using a phantom with known dimensions and we compare performance with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using a commercial quality assurance anthropomorphic prostate phantom.
Results Our geometric validation shows accuracy of 1 mm or less in all three directions, and images of an anthropomorphic phantom qualitatively match those acquired using MRI and show good agreement quantitatively.
Conclusion We describe the first system to acquire robotically- controlled 3D microUS images using the ExactVu microUS system. The reconstructed 3D microUS images are accurate, which will allow for applications of the ExactVu microUS system in prostate specimen and in vivo imaging.
Competing Interest Statement
Brian Wodlinger is employed by Exact Imaging, creator of the ExactVu microUS system.
Funding Statement
This work was funded with a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (CGS-D) and the C.A. Laszlo Chair held by Professor Salcudean.
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The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, California Institute of Technology, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Imperial College London, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, The University of Edinburgh, University of Washington, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
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