Laser-induced photoacoustic tomography for small animals

Xueding Wang; Yongjiang Pang; George Stoica; Lihong V. Wang

doi:10.1117/12.477788

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1 July 2003 Laser-induced photoacoustic tomography for small animals

Xueding Wang, Yongjiang Pang, George Stoica, Lihong V. Wang

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Proceedings Volume 4960, Biomedical Optoacoustics IV; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.477788
Event: Biomedical Optics, 2003, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Photoacoustic tomography, also called opto-acoustic tomography when laser excitation is used, is a novel medical imaging modality that combines the merits of both light and ultrasound. Here, we present our study of laser-induced photoacoustic tomography of organs of small animals. Pulses of 6.5 ns in width from an Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm or 1064 nm are employed to generate the distribution of thermoelastic expansion in the sample. A wide-band ultrasonic transducer that is non-focused in the imaging plane scans around the sample to realize a full-view detection of the imaged cross-section. A modified back-projection algorithm is applied to reconstruct the distribution of optical absorption inside the biological sample. Using optical energy depositions that fall below safe levels, tissue structures in ex-vivo rat kidneys and in-situ mouse brains covered by the skin and skull are imaged successfully with the high intrinsic optical contrast and the high spatial resolution of ultrasound.

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Xueding Wang, Yongjiang Pang, George Stoica, and Lihong V. Wang "Laser-induced photoacoustic tomography for small animals", Proc. SPIE 4960, Biomedical Optoacoustics IV, (1 July 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.477788

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