Photoacoustic Microscopy Imaging and Region-Specific Segmentation of Ileocecal Malignant Tumor and Mixed Hemorrhoid Tissue Sections.

Abstract

The sensitivity of the photoacoustic effect to hemoglobin and structural features in biological tissues has led to its wide application in biomedical research, including vascular imaging and tumor tissue detection. In this study, we customed an optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy system to analyze tissue sections derived from mixed hemorrhoids and ileocecal malignant tumors. Experimental results show that photoacoustic microscopy system accurately captures tissue morphology, revealing the edges and microvessel networks in mixed hemorrhoids and the irregular boundaries and mass-like structures in ileocecal tumors. Furthermore, this study employed a morphological approach to quantitatively analyze specific regional features in colorectal tissue images. Experimental results demonstrate that photoacoustic microscopy can accurately capture the boundaries in hemorrhoid regions, providing clinical guidance for assessing hemorrhoid types. It can also distinguish ileocecal tumor tissue from healthy ileocecal tissue based on tumor boundary characteristics, showing significant potential to improve both clinical diagnostic accuracy and surgical resection efficiency.