New biomedical imaging system could improve disease diagnosis

Photoacoustic tomography is a non-invasive technique that converts absorbed optical energy into acoustic signal. Pulsed light is sent into body tissue, creating a small increase in temperature that expands tissue to an acoustic response detected by an ultrasound transducer. Ultrasound data is then used to visualise the tissue.

“The nice thing about photoacoustic tomography is the compositional information,” said Craig Goergen, an assistant professor in Purdue University’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. “It provides information about where blood and lipid are located, along with other essential information.”

The results of a study describing an adjustable photoacoustic probe with improved light delivery and image quality have been published in Photoacoustics.

According to Purdue, the system provides real-time compositional information of body tissue without the need for contrast agents and with better depth penetration compared with conventional optical techniques.

Photoacoustic tomography can be used to detect or monitor diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. These conditions are estimated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cost over $718bn a year.