A combined platform for B-mode and real-time optoacoustic imaging based on raw data acquisition

Abstract

The high intrinsic optical contrast in biological tissue can be made accessible to acoustical detection through the use of optoacoustics. In addition, the possibility of using nanoscaled contrast agents makes optoacoustical techniques ideal candidates for molecular imaging. While the field of optoacoustic is an emerging imaging modality that has seen little clinical application, ultrasound is widely used for diagnosis. Accordingly, optoacoustic images are much harder to interpret than B-mode images. For this reason, we developed a hardware platform which allows combined B-mode and optoacoustic imaging. The system supports simultaneous data acquisition of 128 channels with a sample rate of 80 MSamples allowing the use of transducers with frequencies up to 20 MHz. The unprocessed data is transferred to a PC where the images are reconstructed with algorithms adapted to both modalities. Software was developed for hardware control, data processing and real-time visualization. B-mode and optoacoustic images of tissue phantoms were generated and different types of nanoparticles were used as optoacoustic contrast agent. Furthermore, the first in-vivo measurements using the combined system were performed, in order to illustrate its potential for future clinical application. © 2008 Acoustical Society of America.