Photoacoustic identification of blood vessel deformation under pressure

Abstract

In this work we demonstrate a photoacoustic system which can identify the deformation of blood vessels under external pressure. Using photoacoustic imaging method, the vessel internal diameter can be derived from the peak-to-peak time interval of the laser (532nm) induced the photoacoustic signals. Comparisons with the actual vessel inter diameter show that the relative deviation is less than 4%, which proves the validity of this method. Interestingly, we find that the axial diameter of the blood vessel and the blood volume increase monotonously with increasing transient pressure, and the laser-induced photoacoustic signal is mainly contributed by the blood inside the vessel. Our results suggest a new way for continuous monitoring of the deformation of blood vessels under pressure.