No abstract

Linear‐array photoacoustic computed tomography (LA‐PACT), for its flexibility and simplicity, has great potential in providing anatomical and functional information of tissues. However, the limited coverage view impedes the LA‐PACT obtaining high‐quality images. In this study, a photoacoustic tomographic system with a hyperbolic‐array transducer was developed for stereoscopic PA imaging of carotid artery. The hyperbolic‐array PACT increases the receiving sensitivity for PA signal detection due to its transducer's geometric structure matching with the spherical wave. The control phantom experiment shows that the proposed system can expand the angular coverage of ∼1/3 more than that of the LA‐PACT system, and the volumetric PA images of rat's carotid artery demonstrates the potential of the system for carotid artery imaging. Furthermore, volumetric imaging of the human forearm verifies that the system has significant capability in human imaging, which indicates that it has bright prospect for assisting diagnosis in the vascular disease.

Radial artery tortuosity (RAT) can lead to an increase in the failure rate of transradial coronary intervention (TRI). Before TRI, the radial artery morphology (RAM) needs to be evaluated to rule out those patients who have serious RAT, which has significant values in increasing the procedural success rate. A stereoscopic photoacoustic imaging (SPAI) system was developed to detect RAT. Phantom and human experiments were carried out to demonstrate performance of the SPAI system. The results show that the SPAI system has great clinical potential in assessing RAM for detecting RAT, which can provide an effective tool for preoperative evaluation of TRI.