Minimally invasive photoacoustic imaging: Current status and future perspectives

Tianrui Zhao; Adrien E Desjardins; Sebastien Ourselin; Tom Vercauteren; Wenfeng Xia

doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2019.100146

Minimally invasive photoacoustic imaging: Current status and future perspectives

Photoacoustics. 2019 Oct 31:16:100146. doi: 10.1016/j.pacs.2019.100146. eCollection 2019 Dec.

Authors

Tianrui Zhao¹, Adrien E Desjardins^{2

3}, Sebastien Ourselin^{1

2}, Tom Vercauteren^{1

2}, Wenfeng Xia^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 4th Floor, Lambeth Wing St Thomas' Hospital London, London SE1 7EH, United Kingdom.
² Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
³ Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences, University College London, Charles Bell House, 67-73 Riding House Street, London W1W 7EJ, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is an emerging biomedical imaging modality that is based on optical absorption contrast, capable of revealing distinct spectroscopic signatures of tissue at high spatial resolution and large imaging depths. However, clinical applications of conventional non-invasive PAI systems have been restricted to examinations of tissues at depths less than a few cm due to strong light attenuation. Minimally invasive photoacoustic imaging (miPAI) has greatly extended the landscape of PAI by delivering excitation light within tissue through miniature fibre-optic probes. In the past decade, various miPAI systems have been developed with demonstrated applicability in several clinical fields. In this article, we present an overview of the current status of miPAI and our thoughts on future perspectives.

Keywords: Interventional photoacoustic imaging; Minimally invasive procedures; Multi-modal imaging; Photoacoustic computed tomography; Photoacoustic endoscopy; Photoacoustic imaging; Photoacoustic microscopy.

Publication types

Review