Live feedback and 3D photoacoustic remote sensing.

BACKGROUND

As photoacoustic (PA) techniques progress towards clinical adoption, providing a high-speed live feedback becomes a high priority. To keep up with the instantaneous optical feedback of conventional light microscopes, PA imaging would need to provide a high-resolution video-rate live feed to the user. However, conventional PA microscopy typically trades resolution, sensitivity and imaging speed when optically scanning due to the difficult opto-acoustic confocal geometry. Here, we employ photoacoustic remote sensing (PARS), an all-optical technique that relies on optical confocal geometry, to provide a high-resolution live display in a reflection-mode PA architecture.

METHODS

Employing a conventional

RESULTS

Employing the proposed method, we demonstrate a live feedback with frame rates as high as 2.5 Hz in 2D and also report the first results of 3D imaging with a non-contact label-free reflection-mode technique. The method is validated with phantom studies and

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, we present a method that has a small computational overhead for image rendering, resulting in a live display capable of real-time frame rates. We also report the first 3D imaging with a non-contact label-free reflection-mode PA technique. The all-optical confocal geometry required by PARS is significantly easier to implement and maintain than the opto-acoustic geometry of conventional PA microscopy techniques. This results in a system capable of high resolution and sensitivity, imaging at real-time rates. The authors believe this work represents a vital step towards a clinical high-resolution reflection-mode video-rate PA imaging system.

Informations de copyright

2021 Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/qims-20-758). The special issue “Advanced Optical Imaging in Biomedicine” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. SA reports grants from illumiSonics Inc., grants from NSERC, grants from Mitacs, grants from New frontiers in research, grants from CFI, during the conduct of the study. KB reports grants, personal fees, non-financial support and other from illumiSonics Inc., grants from NSERC, grants from Mitacs, grants from New frontiers in research, grants from CFI, during the conduct of the study; other from illumiSonics Inc., outside the submitted work. In addition, KB has a patent US10117583B2 issued, a patent US20190320908A1 issued, a patent US20180275046A1 issued, a patent WO2019145764A1 pending, and a patent I am not willing to disclose my other pending and planned IPs until they are publicly available pending. BE reports grants from illumiSonics Inc., grants from NSERC, grants from Mitacs, grants from New frontiers in research, grants from CFI, during the conduct of the study. PHR reports grants, personal fees, non-financial support and other from illumiSonics Inc., grants from NSERC, grants from Mitacs, grants from New frontiers in research, grants from CFI, during the conduct of the study; in addition, PHR has a patent US10117583B2 issued, a patent US20190320908A1 issued, a patent US20180275046A1 issued, a patent WO2019145764A1 pending, and a patent I am not willing to disclose my other pending and planned IPs until they are publicly available pending. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.