Hand-held 3D Photoacoustic Imager with GPS

TL;DR

This paper introduces a handheld 3D photoacoustic imaging system that uses GPS for coordinate tracking, enabling real-time 2D and large field-of-view 3D imaging suitable for clinical applications like surgical navigation.

Contribution

It presents a novel free scan 3D photoacoustic tomography system that combines GPS-based coordinate acquisition with advanced reconstruction algorithms for improved clinical imaging.

Findings

Successful simulation and experimental validation of the fsPAT system

High-quality 3D imaging of human wrist vessels in vivo

Clear visualization of subcutaneous vessel networks with high contrast

Abstract

As an emerging medical diagnostic technology, photoacoustic imaging has been implemented for both preclinical and clinical applications. For clinical convenience, a handheld free scan photoacoustic tomography (PAT) system providing 3D imaging capability is essentially needed, which has potential for surgical navigation and disease diagnosis. In this paper, we proposed a free scan 3D PAT (fsPAT) system based on a handheld linear array ultrasound probe. A global positioning system (GPS) is applied for ultrasound probes coordinate acquisition. The proposed fsPAT can simultaneously realize real time 2D imaging, and large field of view 3D volumetric imaging, which is reconstructed from the multiple 2D images with coordinate information acquired by the GPS. To form a high quality 3D image, a dedicated space transformation method and reconstruction algorithm are used and validated by the proposed system. Both simulation and experimental studies have been performed to prove the feasibility of the proposed fsPAT. To explore its clinical potential, in vivo 3D imaging of human wrist vessels is also conducted, showing clear subcutaneous vessel network with high image contrast.