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Updated: Jul 9, 2025
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Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography for Functional Imaging in Vascular Research
Published on: June 8, 2022
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Photoacoustic vector tomography for deep haemodynamic imaging.
Yang Zhang1, Joshua Olick-Gibson1, Anjul Khadria1
1Caltech Optical Imaging Laboratory, Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Nature Biomedical Engineering
|November 30, 2023
Summary
This study introduces photoacoustic vector tomography (PAVT), a novel imaging method. PAVT non-invasively visualizes deep blood flow in vessels over 5mm below the skin, advancing vascular diagnostics.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Optics
- Medical Imaging
- Hemodynamics
Background:
- Non-invasive deep hemodynamic imaging is challenging.
- Optical imaging is limited to superficial depths (<1 mm).
- Existing methods struggle to quantify deep blood flow speed and direction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To overcome the optical diffusion limit for deep hemodynamic imaging.
- To develop a method for non-invasive quantification of blood flow in deep vessels.
- To introduce photoacoustic vector tomography (PAVT) for hemodynamic assessment.
Main Methods:
- Leveraging blood's spatial heterogeneity and photoacoustic contrast.
- Utilizing successive single-shot wide-field photoacoustic images.
- Estimating pixel-wise blood flow speed and direction from image sequences.
Main Results:
- Successfully visualized and quantified hemodynamics in deep veins (>5 mm).
- Demonstrated PAVT's capability in human hands and arms.
- Achieved pixel-wise estimation of blood flow speed and direction.
Conclusions:
- PAVT breaks the optical diffusion limit for deep hemodynamic imaging.
- PAVT enables non-invasive quantification of deep vascular blood flow.
- PAVT holds promise for diagnosing vascular diseases and mapping circulatory function.
