Real-time photoacoustic and ultrasound dual-modality imaging system facilitated with graphics processing unit and...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Optical Physics
• Medical Ultrasound

Background:

• Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) provides sensitive optical absorption contrast and high spatial resolution, comparable to ultrasound (US) imaging.
• Existing imaging modalities often lack the combined structural and functional information offered by integrating optical and acoustic principles.
• Real-time imaging capabilities are crucial for dynamic biological processes and clinical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a fully integrated, real-time dual-modality imaging system combining PAT and US.
• To optimize PAT image reconstruction for efficient, real-time performance using graphics processing units (GPUs).
• To demonstrate the system's capability for simultaneous, noninvasive in vivo imaging and dynamic event visualization.

Main Methods:

• Development of an integrated system for simultaneous signal scanning, image reconstruction, and display of PAT and US data.
• Optimization of the back-projection (BP) algorithm for PAT image reconstruction using GPU parallel computation.
• In vivo imaging of human peripheral joints and phantom studies of contrast agent flow in artificial vessels.

Main Results:

• Achieved truly real-time, simultaneous PAT and US imaging at a frame rate limited by the 10 Hz laser repetition rate.
• Demonstrated satisfactory image quality for noninvasive in vivo imaging of human peripheral joints.
• Verified system performance for imaging fast biological events through phantom studies.

Conclusions:

• The developed dual-modality PAT and US system enables simultaneous, real-time imaging with high image quality.
• GPU-accelerated image reconstruction significantly enhances the efficiency of PAT processing.
• This integrated system holds promise for advanced biomedical research and clinical diagnostics.