Laser-Generated Leaky Acoustic Wave Imaging for Interventional Guidewire Guidance

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Imaging
• Acoustics

Background:

• Ultrasound (US) is crucial for real-time surgical visualization.
• Previous methods using laser-generated leaky acoustic waves (LAWs) visualized only needle tips.
• Accurate visualization of entire surgical tools like guidewires is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a beamforming-based method for direct visualization of objects with arbitrary shapes.
• To enable visualization of guidewires used in interventional guidance.
• To advance beyond needle tip detection to full object imaging.

Main Methods:

• Utilized laser-generated leaky acoustic waves (LAWs) and ultrasound (US) array transducer.
• Photoacoustic waves generated on guidewire propagate along its surface and leak into tissue.
• Employed array beamforming, considering wave propagation time on the guidewire and US in tissue.
• Incorporated directional filtering and matched filtering to manage signal dispersion.

Main Results:

• Successfully detected guidewires at depths of at least 70 mm.
• Achieved a maximum detectable angle of 56.3°.
• Demonstrated LAW imaging of a 1268-mm-long guidewire.

Conclusions:

• The developed beamforming method allows direct visualization of guidewires.
• This technique has significant potential for novel clinical applications in interventional guidance.
• Advances real-time imaging capabilities for complex surgical instruments.