Triple-path feature transform network for ring-array photoacoustic tomography image reconstruction

Photoacoustic imaging(PAI)is a noninvasive emerging imaging method based on the photoacoustic effect,which provides necessary assistance for medical diagnosis.It has the characteristics of large imaging depth and high contrast.However,limited by the equipment cost and reconstruction time requirements,the existing PAI systems distributed with annular array transducers are difficult to take into account both the image quality and the imaging speed.In this paper,a triple-path feature transform network(TFT-Net)for ring-array photoacoustic tomography is proposed to enhance the imaging quality from limited-view and sparse measurement data.Specifically,the network combines the raw photoacoustic pressure signals and conventional linear reconstruction images as input data,and takes the photoacoustic physical model as a prior information to guide the reconstruction process.In addition,to enhance the ability of extracting signal features,the residual block and squeeze and excitation block are introduced into the TFT-Net.For further efficient reconstruction,the final output of photoacoustic signals uses‘filter-then-upsample’operation with a pixel-shuffle multiplexer and a max out module.Experiment results on simulated and in-vivo data demonstrate that the constructed TFT-Net can restore the target boundary clearly,reduce background noise,and realize fast and high-quality photoacoustic image reconstruction of limited view with sparse sampling.

Photoacoustic elastography based on laser-excited shear wave

Elastography can be used as a diagnostic method for quantitative characterization of tissue hardness information and thus,differential changes in pathophysiological states of tissues.In this study,we propose a new method for shear wave elastography(SWE)based on laser-excited shear wave,called photoacoustic shear wave elastography(PASWE),which combines photoacoustic(PA)technology with ultrafast ultrasound imaging.By using a focused laser to excite shear waves and ultrafast ultrasonic imaging for detection,high-frequency excitation of shear waves and noncontact elastic imaging can be realized.The laser can stimulate the tissue with the light absorption characteristic to produce the thermal expansion,thus producing the shear wave.The frequency of shear wave induced by laser is higher and the frequency band is wider.By tracking the propagation of shear wave,Young’s modulus of tissue is reconstructed in the whole shear wave propagation region to further evaluate the elastic information of tissue.The feasibility of the method is verified by experiments.Compared with the experimental results of supersonic shear imaging(SSI),it is proved that the method can be used for quantitative elastic imaging of the phantoms.In addition,compared with the SSI method,this method can realize the noncontact excitation of the shear wave,and the frequency of the shear wave excited by the laser is higher than that of the acoustic radiation force(ARF),so the spatial resolution is higher.Compared to the traditional PA elastic imaging method,this method can obtain a larger imaging depth under the premise of ensuring the imaging resolution,and it has potential application value in the clinical diagnosis of diseases requiring noncontact quantitative elasticity.

The sparse array elements selection in sparse imaging of circular-array photoacoustic tomography

Photoacoustic imaging(PAI)has been developed,and photoacoustic computed tomography(PACT)is widely used for in vivo tissue and mouse imaging.Simulated annealing(SA)algorithm solves optimization problems,and compressed sensing(CS)recovers sparse signals from undersampled measurements.We aim to develop an advanced sparse imaging framework for PACT,which invloves the use of SA to¯nd an optimal sparse array element distribution and CS to perform sparse imaging.PACT reconstructions were performed using a dummy and porcine liver phantoms.Compared to traditional sparse reconstruction algorithms,the proposed method recovers signals using few ultrasonic transducer elements,enabling high-speed,low-cost PACT for practical application.

Synthetic aperture-based linear-array photoacoustic tomography considering the aperture orientation effect

The synthetic apert ure based linear array photoacoustic tomography(PAT)was proposed to address the limited-view shortcomings of the single aperture,but the detection field of view(FOV)determined by the apert ure orientation efect was not fully considered yet,leading to the limited-view observation and image resolution degradation.Herein,the aperture orientation effect was proposed from the theoretical model and then it was verified via both the numerical simulation and phantom experiment.Different orientations were enumerated sequentially in the simulation to approximate the ideal fullview case for the optimal detection FOV,considering the detect.ion pattern of the linear array transducer.As a result,the corresponding optimal aperture orientation was 60°if the synthetic aperture was seamlessly established by three single linear arrays,where the overlapped detection pattern was optimized from the individual linear-array transducer at the adjacent positions.Therefore,the limited view artifacts were minimized and the image resolution was enhanced in this aperture orientation.This study showed that the aperture orientation had great influence on the optimal detection FOV in the synthetic aperture configuration,where the full-view imaging quality and enhanced image resolution could be achieved.

Compressed sensing in synthetic aperture photoacoustic tomography based on a linear-array ultrasound transducer

Photoacoustic tomography（PAT） has the unique capability of visualizing optical absorption inside several centimeters-deep biological tissue with a high spatial resolution. However, single linear-array transducer-based PAT suffers from the limited-view challenge, and thus the synthetic aperture configuration is designed that still requires multichannel data acquisition hardware. Herein, a feasible synthetic aperture PAT based on compressed sensing reconstruction is proposed. Both the simulation and experimental results tested the theoretical model and validated that this approach can improve the image resolution and address the limited-view problem while preserving the target information with a fewer number of measurements.