A 2.5-mm outer diameter photoacoustic endoscopic mini-probe based on a highly sensitive PMN-PT ultrasonic transducer

Abstract

We have developed a 2.5-mm outer diameter photoacoustic endoscopic mini-probe to use in the instrument channel (typically 2.8 or 3.7 mm in diameter) of standard video endoscopes. To achieve adequate signal sensitivity, we fabricated a focused ultrasonic transducer using a highly-sensitive PMN-PT piezoelectric material. We quantified the PMN-PT transducer's operating parameters and validated the mini-probe's endoscopic imaging capability through an ex vivo imaging experiment on a rat colon.

Photoacoustic Microscopy

“…By offering high-resolution images with unique optical contrast, PAM has so far been applied to numerous preclinical and human studies, including vascular biology [174][175][176], oncology [65,83,124,151,[177][178][179][180], neurology [64,132,181,182], ophthalmology [68,70,94,135,183], dermatology [184][185][186][187][188], gastroenterology [36,57,[189][190][191], and cardiology [35,99,192,193]. In the interest of brevity, only a few representative applications are highlighted in this paper.…”

Multiscale Functional and Molecular Photoacoustic Tomography

“…Building on these technical advances, PAT has become increasingly popular in preclinical studies, especially in studying tumor angiogenesis, cancer hypoxia, brain functions, tissue remodeling and drug delivery [1, 2]. Most encouragingly, PAT has started to be used in clinical practice, for procedures such as breast cancer screening [10–12], sentinel lymph node mapping [13–18], melanoma staging [19–24] and endoscopic examination [25, 26]. All of these preclinical and clinical applications of PAT are important maturing steps towards human healthcare.…”

“…1,2 Most encouragingly, PAT has started to be used in clinical practice, for procedures such as breast cancer screening, 10-12 sentinel lymph node mapping, 13-18 melanoma staging, 19-24 and endoscopic examination. 25,26 All of these preclinical and clinical applications of PAT are important maturing steps toward human health care.…”