Automatic Search for Photoacoustic Marker Using Automated Transrectal Ultrasound

According to [2], 11.6% of men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime, with approximately a 20% death rate in the United States. Radical prostatectomy is a popular surgical approach to treat PCa by removing the entire prostate gland since 1905 [3,4]. In clinical practice, the traditional open radical prostatectomy (ORP) has almost been replaced by laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RLP) [5]. As a minimally invasive surgical procedure for PCa, RLP significantly reduces blood loss, hospitalization duration, and postoperative complications [6]. However, the long learning curve associated with laparoscopic procedures limits the application of RLP [7]. Robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) has been demonstrated [5] to shorten this learning curve by leveraging the wristed instruments and the 3-D endoscopic camera of the telerobotic surgical system, usually the da Vinci surgical system, to achieve intuitive operation [8]. However, the endoscopic camera cannot localize the prostate lesions nor visualize the sub-surface anatomy of the prostate gland. Therefore, a complementary medical imaging modality is necessary to facilitate RALP.