An experimental study: evaluating the tissue structure of penis with 2D-ShearWave™ Elastography

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Urology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Penile tissue structure changes with development.
• Assessing these changes noninvasively is crucial for understanding penile health.
• Current methods for evaluating penile tissue structure can be invasive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of two-dimensional ShearWave™ Elastography (2D-SWE) for evaluating penile tissue structure.
• To correlate shear wave stiffness (SWS) measurements with histological findings in rat penises.
• To explore the potential of 2D-SWE as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for penile conditions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized ultrafast ultrasound (Aixplorer®) for 2D-SWE imaging in Sprague Dawley rats.
• Measured shear wave stiffness (SWS) in kPa on penis tissue samples.
• Performed histological analysis (hematoxylin-eosin staining) for tissue structure comparison.

Main Results:

• Successfully measured SWS in all rat penises.
• Significantly lower SWS was observed in the penis-developed group (PDG) compared to the penis-underdeveloped group (PUDG) (P=0.008).
• Histopathology revealed significant differences in penile tissue structures (sinusoids, smooth muscle cells, fibrocytes) between the groups.

Conclusions:

• Significant differences in SWS correlate with distinct penile tissue structures.
• 2D-SWE demonstrates feasibility for noninvasively evaluating penile tissue structure changes.
• 2D-SWE shows promise as a novel tool for the etiological diagnosis of erectile dysfunction.