Skull acoustic aberration correction in photoacoustic microscopy using a vector space similarity model: a proof-of-concept simulation study

Abstract

Skull bone represents a highly acoustical impedance mismatch and a dispersive barrier for the propagation of acoustic waves. Skull distorts the amplitude and phase information of the received waves at different frequencies in a transcranial brain imaging. We study a novel algorithm based on vector space similarity model for the compensation of the skull-induced distortions in transcranial photoacoustic microscopy. The results of the algorithm tested on a simplified numerical skull phantom, demonstrate a fully recovered vasculature with the recovery rate of 91.9%.

Direct measurement of neuronal ensemble activity using photoacoustic imaging in the stimulated Fos-LacZ transgenic rat brain: A proof-of-principle study

“…To make F/M-PAT more clinically useful, the method’s penetration depth could be further improved using a PA-sensitive nano-probe for Fos-protein with a higher absorptivity and peak absorption wavelength similar to advances made in PA imaging within oncology [ 38 ], or methods using deep learning [ 67 ]. For clinical translation, imaging should be performed though an acoustic window [ 68 , 69 ], or transcranial imaging should be performed with skull aberration compensation algorithms implemented. The most compelling reason to track Fos-expressing neuronal ensembles is that it provides researchers a tool that can focus on the sub-population of neurons most activated during a particular stimulus or behavior.…”

Coregistered transcranial optoacoustic and magnetic resonance angiography of the human brain

“…Much more significant acoustic distortions are induced by the thick human skull, which further supports complex non-linear propagation patterns involving longitudinal to shear mode conversion and guided acoustic waves [26,27]. Efforts have been devoted to the development of new algorithms trying to correct for skull-induced aberrations [28][29][30][31], for which data from other modalities such as X-ray computed tomography (CT) and MRI can be used [32,33]. More recently, MSOT has been shown to provide powerful capabilities to map brain activity matching fMRI readings in patients who underwent hemicraniectomy [34].…”

Photoacoustic imaging for monitoring of stroke diseases: A review

“…The influence of the skull has been simulated using different methods like the Monte Carlo method and diffusion equation for optical propagation [ 138 , 139 ], and K-wave and Ray tracing for acoustic propagation [ 140 ]. During image reconstruction, the attenuation corrections based on the elastic wave equation [ 141 ], a layered back-projection method [ 142 ], and a vector space similarity mode [ 143 ] have been developed to get a good performance of the transcranial PAI.…”