Photoacoustic Tomography: Ultrasonically Breaking through the Optical Diffusion Limit

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• Wang, LV (Washington University)
• Tuesday 23 August 2011, 14:05-14:55
• Seminar Room 1, Newton Institute.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Mustapha Amrani.

Inverse Problems

We develop photoacoustic tomography (PAT) for functional and molecular imaging by physically combining optical and ultrasonic waves via energy transduction. Key applications include early-cancer and functional imaging. Light provides rich tissue contrast but does not penetrate biological tissue in straight paths as x-rays do. Consequently, high-resolution pure optical imaging (e.g., confocal microscopy, two-photon microscopy, and optical coherence tomography) is limited to depths within one optical transport mean free path (_{1 mm in the skin). Ultrasonic imaging, on the contrary, provides good image resolution but suffers from poor contrast in early-stage tumors as well as strong speckle artifacts. PAT -embodied in the forms of computed tomography and focused scanning-overcomes the above problems because ultrasonic scattering is} 1000 times weaker than optical scattering. In PAT , a pulsed laser beam illuminates the tissue and generates a small but rapid temperature rise, which induces emission of ultrasonic waves due to thermoelastic expansion. The short-wavelength ultrasonic waves are then detected to form high-resolution tomographic images. PAT broke through the diffusion limit for penetration and achieved high-resolution images at depths up to 7 cm in tissue. Further depths can be reached by thermoacoustic tomography (TAT) using microwaves or RF waves instead of light for excitation.

This talk is part of the Isaac Newton Institute Seminar Series series.

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