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. 2019 Jun 24;19(12):2815.
doi: 10.3390/s19122815.

Photoacoustic/Ultrasound/Optical Coherence Tomography Evaluation of Melanoma Lesion and Healthy Skin in a Swine Model

Karl Kratkiewicz  1 , Rayyan Manwar  2 , Ali Rajabi-Estarabadi  3 , Joseph Fakhoury  4 , Jurgita Meiliute  5 , Steven Daveluy  6   7 , Darius Mehregan  8 , Kamran Mohammad Avanaki  9   10   11   12
Affiliations

Photoacoustic/Ultrasound/Optical Coherence Tomography Evaluation of Melanoma Lesion and Healthy Skin in a Swine Model

Karl Kratkiewicz et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

The marked increase in the incidence of melanoma coupled with the rapid drop in the survival rate after metastasis has promoted the investigation into improved diagnostic methods for melanoma. High-frequency ultrasound (US), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and photoacoustic imaging (PAI) are three potential modalities that can assist a dermatologist by providing extra information beyond dermoscopic features. In this study, we imaged a swine model with spontaneous melanoma using these modalities and compared the images with images of nearby healthy skin. Histology images were used for validation.

Keywords: cancer imaging; melanoma; optical coherence tomography; photoacoustic imaging; skin imaging; swine melanoma model; ultrasound.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Principle of photoacoustic imaging. (a) Schematic of photoacoustic imaging setup for the acquisition of images from swine skin. (b) Optical absorption spectrum for most abundant photoacoustic absorbers in the skin with dashed lines showing wavelengths used in this study. Left: 532 nm; right: 1064 nm.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ultrasound (US)/photoacoustic (PA) system components. (a) Optical coherence tomography (OCT) system. (b) US/PA DAQ, processing, and storage units, (i) Vantage 128 DAQ system, and (ii) processing unit. (c) US/PA probe specifications. (d) US/PA probe in use on swine melanoma lesion. DAQ: Data acquisition unit, HSL: High-speed swept-source laser.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Imaged suspect lesions. (a) (i) Abdominal, dark-brown pigmented plaque with irregular border confirmed as melanoma (black-circle), (ii) histology of nearby healthy skin (red-circle), and (iii) histology of the suspect lesion. (b) (i) Flank, large dark-brown plaque confirmed as melanoma (circled), (ii) histology of nearby healthy skin, and (iii) histology of the suspect lesion.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Ultrasound images of melanoma lesion and nearby healthy skin. (a) Abdominal: (i) Lesion, (ii) nearby healthy. (b) Flank: (i) Lesion, (ii) healthy. (c) Bar chart of average pixel intensity from epidermal region of US images. E: Epidermis, d: Dermis, sc: Subcutaneous tissue. Fibrotic septa (arrows), epidermal layer pixels (yellow dashes).
Figure 5
Figure 5
OCT images of melanoma lesion and nearby healthy skin. (a) Abdominal: (i) Lesion and (ii) healthy. (b) Flank: (i) Lesion and (ii) healthy. Melanomas demonstrate disorganization and thickening of the epidermis, larger rete ridges, an obscured dermal–epidermal junction (DEJ), and dermal tumor nests. Yellow circles: Dermal nests of melanocytes. Red lines: Dermal–epidermal junction. Green brackets: Epidermis. Light blue brackets: Dermis.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Photoacoustic images of melanoma lesion and nearby healthy skin at 532 nm illumination wavelength. (a) Abdominal: (i) Lesion and (ii) healthy. (b) Flank: (i) Lesion and (ii) healthy. (c) Bar chart of average pixel intensity from epidermal region in the PA images of 532 nm. E: Epidermis. Epidermal pixels (white dashes). The PA signal was increased in the melanoma, highlighting the increase in melanin.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Photoacoustic images of melanoma lesion and nearby healthy skin at 1064 nm illumination wavelength. (a) Abdominal: (i) Lesion and (ii) healthy. (b) Flank: (i) Lesion and (ii) healthy. (c) Bar chart of average pixel intensity from epidermal region at 1064 nm images. E: Epidermis. Fibrotic septa (arrows); averaged epidermal pixels (white dashes).
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