Advances in Photoacoustic Imaging for Interventional Application

The incidence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases and gastrointestinal cancer have gradually increased in recent years,and these diseases have become major social and public-health concerns.New requirements have been proposed for the clinical diagnosis of these diseases in the hope that,by accessing accurate structural information,to further grasp the functional information which closely related to the development of the diseases.Photoacoustic imaging is a new imaging method in which ultrasonic signals are generated from biological samples by laser-pulse irradiation.It has the advantages of high optical contrast,large ultrasound penetration depth,and high resolution.Additionally,it can acquire spectral information.The integration of a photoacoustic imaging system into a tiny imaging catheter can realize interventional imaging based on photoacoustic principles.The combination of structural imaging of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal lesion regions with photoacoustic spectroscopy to identify and quantify tissue components can realize highly sensitive functional imaging.After surveying the recent progress in the development of the photoacoustic imaging method for interventional application,with a particular emphasis on intravascular photoacoustic imaging,photoacoustic endoscopy,and photoacoustic spectroscopy,we summarize and identify future research directions for interventional photoacoustic imaging.