Review of cost reduction methods in photoacoustic computed tomography

Abstract

Photoacoustic Computed Tomography (PACT) is a major configuration of photoacoustic imaging, a hybrid noninvasive modality for both functional and molecular imaging. PACT has rapidly gained importance in the field of biomedical imaging due to superior performance as compared to conventional optical imaging counterparts. However, the overall cost of developing a PACT system is one of the challenges towards clinical translation of this novel technique. The cost of a typical commercial PACT system originates from optical source, ultrasound detector, and data acquisition unit. With growing applications of photoacoustic imaging, there is a tremendous demand towards reducing its cost. In this review article, we have discussed various approaches to reduce the overall cost of a PACT system, and provided a cost estimation to build a low-cost PACT system.

Overview of Ultrasound Detection Technologies for Photoacoustic Imaging

“…If cost is a deciding factor, sensitivity and bandwidth of the transducer may be affected. The manufacturing cost of a transducer largely depends on the fabrication process and the number of attempts needed to obtain required specifications [9].…”

“…Another modality that directly benefits from ultrasound transducer technology is photoacoustic imaging (PAI). PAI is an emerging modality that uses a combination of optical excitation and acoustic detection for visualizing vascular, functional, and molecular changes within living tissue [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. As opposed to the optical imaging modalities such as optical coherence tomography [12] that employs ballistic photons, PAI uses diffused photons providing significantly deeper penetration.…”

“…As opposed to the optical imaging modalities such as optical coherence tomography [12] that employs ballistic photons, PAI uses diffused photons providing significantly deeper penetration. In PAI, thermoelastic expansion of tissue chromophores occurs when irradiated by a nanosecond pulsed laser-resulting in emission of acoustic waves that are then detected by ultrasound transducers for image formation [9,[13][14][15][16][17]; in PAI the ultrasound transducer is a receiver device. The strength of the acoustic waves generated from the chromophores is around 800 PA•mK −1 [4].…”

Shedding light on pediatric diseases: multispectral optoacoustic tomography at the doorway to clinical applications

“…The high costs for OAI systems, especially when compared to current high-end ultrasound systems, are a main challenge for clinical implementation. Various approaches for reducing these costs are already in discussion, including alternate illumination sources and signal detection methods [44]. A higher number of commercially available systems might also help to reduce costs and allow a widespread adoption of MSOT in clinical practice.…”

Dictionary learning technique enhances signal in LED-based photoacoustic imaging

“…Thus, recent efforts have focused on low-cost light sources such as pulsed laser diodes (PLDs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to further facilitate widespread clinical utility of PAI [15,16]. LED-based PAI imaging equipment is relatively inexpensive, compact, portable, and lightweight; these LEDs have a long life-time and good stability [17][18][19][20][21][22]. Of course, LED-based PAI, like other PAI, is subject to thermal and electrical noises [23,24].…”