The Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Department of Dermatology and Pediatric, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
J Biophotonics. 2022 Jun;15(6):e202200016. doi: 10.1002/jbio.202200016. Epub 2022 Apr 5.
One of the key challenges in linear array transducer-based photoacoustic computed tomography is to image structures embedded deep within the biological tissue with limited optical energy. Here, we utilized a manually controlled multi-angle illumination technique to allow the incident photons to interact with the imaging targets for longer periods of time and diffuse further in all directions. We have developed and optimized a compact probe that enables manual changes to the angle of illumination while acquiring photoacoustic signals. The performance has been demonstrated and evaluated by imaging complex blood vessel mimicking phantoms in-vitro and sheep brain samples ex-vivo. For effective image reconstruction from the data acquired by multi-angle illumination method, we have utilized a method based on the extraction of maximum intensity. In both cases, multi-angle illumination has out-performed the conventional fixed angle illumination technique to improve the overall image quality. Specifically, extraction of the imaging targets located at greater axial depths was possible using this multi-angle illumination technique.
在线性阵列换能器基光声计算机层析成像中的一个关键挑战是，利用有限的光学能量对生物组织内嵌入的深层结构进行成像。在这里，我们利用手动控制的多角度照明技术，使入射光子与成像目标相互作用更长时间，并向各个方向进一步扩散。我们已经开发并优化了一种紧凑的探头，能够在获取光声信号的同时手动改变照明角度。我们通过对体外复杂血管模拟体模和绵羊脑组织样本进行成像来演示和评估该探头的性能。为了从多角度照明方法获取的数据进行有效的图像重建，我们利用了一种基于最大强度提取的方法。在这两种情况下，多角度照明都优于传统的固定角度照明技术，从而提高了整体图像质量。具体来说，使用这种多角度照明技术可以提取位于更大轴向深度的成像目标。
