In vivo co-registered hybrid-contrast imaging by successive photoacoustic tomography and magnetic resonance imaging

Shuangyang Zhang; Zhichao Liang; Kaiyi Tang; Xipan Li; Xiaoming Zhang; Zongxin Mo; Jian Wu; Shixian Huang; Jiaming Liu; Zhijian Zhuang; Li Qi; Wufan Chen

doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100506

In vivo co-registered hybrid-contrast imaging by successive photoacoustic tomography and magnetic resonance imaging

Photoacoustics. 2023 May 8:31:100506. doi: 10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100506. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Shuangyang Zhang^{1

2

3}, Zhichao Liang^{1

2

3}, Kaiyi Tang^{1

2

3}, Xipan Li^{1

2

3}, Xiaoming Zhang^{1

2

3}, Zongxin Mo^{1

2

3}, Jian Wu^{1

2

3}, Shixian Huang^{1

2

3}, Jiaming Liu^{1

2

3}, Zhijian Zhuang^{1

2

3}, Li Qi^{1

2

3}, Wufan Chen^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
² Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
³ Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Technology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and photoacoustic tomography (PAT) offer two distinct image contrasts. To integrate these two modalities, we present a comprehensive hardware-software solution for the successive acquisition and co-registration of PAT and MRI images in in vivo animal studies. Based on commercial PAT and MRI scanners, our solution includes a 3D-printed dual-modality imaging bed, a 3-D spatial image co-registration algorithm with dual-modality markers, and a robust modality switching protocol for in vivo imaging studies. Using the proposed solution, we successfully demonstrated co-registered hybrid-contrast PAT-MRI imaging that simultaneously displays multi-scale anatomical, functional and molecular characteristics on healthy and cancerous living mice. Week-long longitudinal dual-modality imaging of tumor development reveals information on size, border, vascular pattern, blood oxygenation, and molecular probe metabolism of the tumor micro-environment at the same time. The proposed methodology holds promise for a wide range of pre-clinical research applications that benefit from the PAT-MRI dual-modality image contrast.

Keywords: Co-registration; Hardware-software solution; Magnetic resonance imaging; Multi-scale characteristics; Photoacoustic Tomography.