Abstract
Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among gynecological cancers, but is poorly amenable to preoperative diagnosis. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of "optical biopsy," using high-optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) to quantify the microvasculature of ovarian and fallopian tube tissue. The technique is demonstrated using excised human ovary and fallopian tube specimens imaged immediately after surgery. Quantitative parameters are derived using Amira software. The parameters include three-dimensional vascular segment count, total volume and length, which are associated with tumor angiogenesis. Qualitative results of OR-PAM demonstrate that malignant ovarian tissue has larger and more tortuous blood vessels as well as smaller vessels of different sizes, while benign and normal ovarian tissue has smaller vessels of uniform size. Quantitative analysis shows that malignant ovaries have greater tumor vessel volume, length and number of segments, as compared with benign and normal ovaries. The vascular pattern of benign fallopian tube is different than that of benign ovarian tissue. Our initial results demonstrate the potential of OR-PAM as an imaging tool for fast assessment of ovarian tissue and fallopian tube and could avoid unnecessary surgery if the risk of the examined ovary is extremely low.