BACKGROUND: The mechanical characterization of prostate tissue has not received much attention and is often disconnected from the clinic, where samples are readily attained. METHODS: We developed a spherical indenter for the clinic to generate force-displacement data from ex vivo prostate tissue. Indentation velocity, depth, and sphere diameter, and four means of estimating elastic modulus (EM) were validated. EM was then estimated for 26 prostate specimens obtained via prostatectomy and 6 samples obtained from autopsy. Prostatectomy prostates were evaluated clinically upon digital rectal exam and pathologically post-extirpation. FINDINGS: Whole-mount measurements yielded median EM of 43.2 kPa (SD=59.8 kPa). Once sliced into cross-sections, median EM for stage T2 and T3 glands were 30.9 and 71.0 kPa, respectively, but not significantly different. Furthermore, we compared within-organ EM difference for prostates with (median=46.5 kPa, SD=22.2 kPa) and without (median=31.0 kPa, SD=63.1 kPa) palpable abnormalities. INTERPRETATION: This work finds that diseased prostate tissue is stiffer than normal tissue, stiffness increases with disease severity, and large variability exists between samples, even though disease differences within a prostate are detectable. A further study of late-stage cancers would help to strengthen the findings presented in this work.
BACKGROUND: The mechanical characterization of prostate tissue has not received much attention and is often disconnected from the clinic, where samples are readily attained. METHODS: We developed a spherical indenter for the clinic to generate force-displacement data from ex vivo prostate tissue. Indentation velocity, depth, and sphere diameter, and four means of estimating elastic modulus (EM) were validated. EM was then estimated for 26 prostate specimens obtained via prostatectomy and 6 samples obtained from autopsy. Prostatectomy prostates were evaluated clinically upon digital rectal exam and pathologically post-extirpation. FINDINGS: Whole-mount measurements yielded median EM of 43.2 kPa (SD=59.8 kPa). Once sliced into cross-sections, median EM for stage T2 and T3 glands were 30.9 and 71.0 kPa, respectively, but not significantly different. Furthermore, we compared within-organ EM difference for prostates with (median=46.5 kPa, SD=22.2 kPa) and without (median=31.0 kPa, SD=63.1 kPa) palpable abnormalities. INTERPRETATION: This work finds that diseased prostate tissue is stiffer than normal tissue, stiffness increases with disease severity, and large variability exists between samples, even though disease differences within a prostate are detectable. A further study of late-stage cancers would help to strengthen the findings presented in this work.
Authors: Jean-Michel Correas; Ethan J Halpern; Richard G Barr; Sangeet Ghai; Jochen Walz; Sylvain Bodard; Charles Dariane; Jean de la Rosette Journal: World J Urol Date: 2020-04-18 Impact factor: 4.226
Authors: Steven Conrad Hauser; Gregory John Gerling; Steven Conrad Hauser; Gregory John Gerling; Gregory John Gerling; Steven Conrad Hauser Journal: IEEE Trans Haptics Date: 2017-06-15 Impact factor: 2.487
Authors: Daniel W Good; Ashfaq Khan; Steven Hammer; Paul Scanlan; Wenmiao Shu; Simon Phipps; Simon H Parson; Grant D Stewart; Robert Reuben; S Alan McNeill Journal: PLoS One Date: 2014-11-10 Impact factor: 3.240