Vascular bifurcation mapping with photoacoustic microscopy.

The early detection of microvascular changes in cancer diagnosis is needed in the clinic. A change in the vascular bifurcation density is a biomarker for the sprouting activity. Here, Optical-Resolution PhotoAcoustic Microscopy is used for quantitative vascular bifurcation mapping in 2D after the creation of Virtual Tubes out of Bifurcations. In stacks of OR-PAM images of the hemoglobin distribution, bifurcations become tubes and are selected by the 3D tubeness filter. These fast analyses will be compared to a classical approach and are easier to implement for functional analysis of the vascular bifurcation density in healthy and diseased tissues.