title: Visualization of prostatic nerves by polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography.
abstract: Preservation of prostatic nerves is critical to recovery of a man's sexual potency after radical prostatectomy. A real-time imaging method of prostatic nerves will be helpful for nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy (NSRP). Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT), which provides both structural and birefringent information of tissue, was applied for detection of prostatic nerves in both rat and human prostate specimens, ex vivo. PS-OCT imaging of rat prostate specimens visualized highly scattering and birefringent fibrous structures superficially, and these birefringent structures were confirmed to be nerves by histology or multiphoton microscopy (MPM). PS-OCT could easily distinguish these birefringent structures from surrounding other tissue compartments such as prostatic glands and fats. PS-OCT imaging of human prostatectomy specimens visualized two different birefringent structures, appearing fibrous and sheet-like. The fibrous ones were confirmed to be nerves by histology, and the sheet-like ones were considered to be fascias surrounding the human prostate. PS-OCT imaging of human prostatectomy specimens along the perimeter showed spatial variation in the amount of birefringent fibrous structures which was consistent with anatomy. These results demonstrate the feasibility of PS-OCT for detection of prostatic nerves, and this study will provide a basis for intraoperative use of PS-OCT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Hyoja-dong, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, South Korea.
authors.forename: Yeoreum
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-040, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Hwan
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-040, South Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Hyun
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Hyoja-dong, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, South Korea.
authors.forename: Won Hyuk
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-040, South Korea.
authors.forename: Ji Youl
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Hyoja-dong, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, South Korea; Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Hyoja-dong, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, South Korea.
authors.forename: Ki Hean
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging; (170.4500) Optical coherence tomography; (170.7230) Urology; (180.4315) Nonlinear microscopy; (230.5440) Polarization-selective devices; (260.5430) Polarization