819 results about "Photoacoustic imaging in biomedicine" patented technology

A system and method combines information from a plurality of medical imaging modalities, such as PET, CT, MRI, MRSI, Ultrasound, Echo Cardiograms, Photoacoustic Imaging and Elastography for a medical image guided procedure, such that a pre-procedure image using one of these imaging modalities, is fused with an intra-procedure imaging modality used for real time image guidance for a medical procedure for any soft tissue organ or gland such as prostate, skin, heart, lung, kidney, liver, bladder, ovaries, and thyroid, wherein the soft tissue deformation and changes between the two imaging instances are modeled and accounted for automatically.

The present invention is a guide wire imaging device for vascular or non-vascular imaging utilizing optic acoustical methods, which device has a profile of less than 1 mm in diameter. The ultrasound imaging device of the invention comprises a single mode optical fiber with at least one Bragg grating, and a piezoelectric or piezo-ceramic jacket, which device may achieve omnidirectional (360°) imaging. The imaging guide wire of the invention can function as a guide wire for vascular interventions, can enable real time imaging during balloon inflation, and stent deployment, thus will provide clinical information that is not available when catheter-based imaging systems are used. The device of the invention may enable shortened total procedure times, including the fluoroscopy time, will also reduce radiation exposure to the patient and to the operator.

The invention relates to photoacoustic imaging and ultrasound echo imaging In combination, and applies in particular to the field of imaging a lumen of an organ or vessel of a subject, wherein the Images are acquired from within a lumen of the organ or vessel, especially a lumen of a blood vessel to diagnose and treat vascular disease An exemplary embodiment of the invention is a catheter having an ultrasound transducer, the transducer comprising a probe suitable for generating and detecting photoacoustic signals and ultrasound echo signals, wherein the photoacoustic signals and the ultrasound echo signals are convertible to images which are integrated into an enriched image. The photoacoustic signals are generated by a multiplicity of energy sources suitable for inducing the walls of the blood vessel to generate acoustic waves, wherein the energy sources are arrayed in an annulus around the flexible tubular member.

An ultrasonic photoacoustic imaging apparatus which includes a probe incorporating an array transducer having a plurality of transducers and an acoustic image generation unit that generates, based on a mixed signal obtained by converting an acoustic wave, in which an ultrasonic wave and a photoacoustic wave are mixed and making use of a difference between phase shift aspect of electrical signals of the ultrasonic waves from the same reflection source in the inside of the subject and phase shift aspect of electrical signals of the photoacoustic waves from the same generation source in the inside of the subject, an electrical signal reflecting the ultrasonic wave and an electrical signal reflecting the photoacoustic wave, and generates an ultrasonic image based on the electrical signal reflecting the ultrasonic wave and a photoacoustic image based on the electrical signal reflecting the photoacoustic wave.

An intraoperative registration and tracking system includes an optical source configured to illuminate tissue intraoperatively with electromagnetic radiation at a substantially localized spot so as to provide a photoacoustic source at the substantially localize spot, an optical imaging system configured to form an optical image of at least a portion of the tissue and to detect and determine a position of the substantially localized spot in the optical image, an ultrasound imaging system configured to form an ultrasound image of at least a portion of the tissue and to detect and determine a position of the substantially localized spot in the ultrasound image, and a registration system configured to determine a coordinate transformation that registers the optical image with the ultrasound image based at least partially on a correspondence of the spot in the optical image with the spot in the ultrasound image.

An interventional photoacoustic imaging system and method for cancer treatment comprises an optical source for applying laser energy to optically excite a treatment area, a needle, ablation tool or catheter for inserting the optical source into a body of a patient adjacent the treatment area, and an ultrasonic transducer for detecting the acoustic waves. A processor receives the raw data from the ultrasound system and processes it to thereby form a photoacoustic image of the tissue in real time. As such, image formation may be performed preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively.

The invention belongs to the technical field of non-destructive testing and measuring, and discloses a focusing rotary scanning photoacoustic ultrasonic blood vessel endoscope imaging device and a focusing rotary scanning photoacoustic ultrasonic blood vessel endoscope imaging method. The device comprises a photoacoustic ultrasonic endoscope imaging probe, a rotating connecting part and a peripheral circuit part, wherein pulse laser generates 90-degree reflection at the light outlet end and is irradiated on the blood vessel wall after being gathered by a cylindrical surface light gathering lens, photoacoustic signals are generated, a sound-sensitive element receives the photoacoustic signals, the photoacoustic signals are collected and recorded after being converted, the synchronous working of a data collector and a pulse laser is realized, triggering signals generated by the pulse laser trigger an ultrasonic pulse emitting and receiving device to emit electric signals, the electric signals trigger the sound-sensitive element to emit ultrasonic signals, the ultrasonic signals are reflected after reaching the blood vessels, are received by sound-sensitive elements and are collected and recorded after being converted, a step motor drives the device for carrying out scanning to obtain the whole blood vessel fault data, and photoacoustic and ultrasonic images are obtained after the processing. The sound-sensitive elements are shared by ultrasonic and photoacoustic images, and the high-resolution and high-sensitivity blood vessel internal ultrasonic photoacoustic imaging can be realized.

Photoacoustic imaging systems and methods that allow for the creation of three-dimensional (3D) images of a subject are described herein. The systems include one or more optical fibers attached to an ultrasound transducer. Ultrasonic waves are generated by laser light emitted from the optical fiber(s) and detected by the ultrasound transducer. 3D images are acquired by ultrasound signals from a series of adjacent scan planes or frames that are then stacked together to create 3D volume data.

A measurement apparatus capable of measuring a position and a size of an absorber with high accuracy, which includes: a light source unit for emitting a pulse beam; an illumination optical unit for leading the pulse beam emitted by the light source unit to an inside of an inspection object; and an acoustic signal detection unit for detecting a photoacoustic signal generated by the pulse beam in which the illumination optical unit includes a first and second illumination optical units that are arranged so that the inspection object is irradiated with the pulse beam from both sides thereof opposingly; and the acoustic signal detection unit is provided so that a detection surface of the acoustic signal detection unit is positioned on the same side as that of one of irradiation surfaces of the inspection object which the first and second illumination optical units irradiate with the pulse beam.

Dye-peptide conjugates useful for diagnostic imaging and therapy are disclosed. The dye-peptide conjugates include several cyanine dyes with a variety of bis- and tetrakis(carboxylic acid) homologues. The small size of the compounds allows more favorable delivery to tumor cells as compared to larger molecular weight imaging agents. The various dyes are useful over the range of 350-1300 nm, the exact range being dependent upon the particular dye. Use of dimethylsulfoxide helps to maintain the fluorescence of the compounds. The molecules of the invention are useful for diagnostic imaging and therapy, in endoscopic applications for the detection of tumors and other abnormalities and for localized therapy, for photoacoustic tumor imaging, detection and therapy, and for sonofluorescence tumor imaging, detection and therapy.

A photoacoustic imaging apparatus includes a signal processor. The signal processor includes an adding unit configured to add received signals obtained by acoustic wave detecting devices to obtain a summed signal, a normalizing unit configured to normalize the summed signal for each acoustic wave detecting device with reference to an amplitude value in the received signal in the acoustic wave detecting device at the time when a maximum amplitude value in the summed signal is obtained to obtain a normalized signal, a reducing unit configured to subtract the normalized signal from the received signal for each acoustic wave detecting device to obtain a reduced signal in which the amplitude value in the received signal at the time when the maximum amplitude value in the summed signal is obtained is reduced, and an imaging unit configured to generate image data using the reduced signals.

Systems and methods of reconstructing photoacoustic imaging data corresponding to a brain of a subject through a skull of a subject utilizing a reconstruction method that incorporates a spatial model of one or more acoustic properties of the brain and skull of the subject derived from an adjunct imaging dataset.

The invention discloses a bimodal system and method integrating photoacoustic imaging and fluorescence imaging. In the invention, the complementarity between photoacoustic imaging and fluorescence imaging on the imaging theory is used, and through a common scanning light path system, photoacoustic imaging and fluorescence imaging are effectively integrated into a whole. The device for realizing the method of the invention comprises an photoacoustic imaging subsystem, a fluorescence imaging subsystem and a computer, wherein the photoacoustic imaging subsystem and the fluorescence imaging subsystem are integrated through the scanning light path system; the computer is respectively connected with the photoacoustic imaging subsystem, the fluorescence imaging subsystem and the scanning light path system; and the computer not only controls the scanning mode of the scanning light path system, but also processes the data of the photoacoustic imaging subsystem and the fluorescence imaging subsystem, combines the photoacoustic information and fluorescence information, and reconstructs photoacoustic and fluorescence bimodal images. The method of the invention has accurate positioning and high resolution, and the imaging system has lower cost and easy popularization.

The present disclosure provides for a system that is adapted to simultaneously display photoacoustic and ultrasound images of the same object. An image combiner can perform spatial and temporal interpolation of the two images before generating a combined image. The combined image is then displayed on a display such as an LCD or CRT. The system is able to use motion estimates obtained from the ultrasound data to enhance the photoacoustic image thereby increasing its apparent frame rate, registering consecutive frames in order to reduce artifacts. The system is capable of generating combined ultrasound and photoacoustic images which are registered spatially and temporally.

Cyanine dye bioconjugates useful for diagnostic imaging and therapy are disclosed. The conjugates include several cyanine dyes with a variety of bis- and tetrakis (carboxylic acid) homologues. The compounds may be conjugated to bioactive peptides, carbohydrates, hormones, drugs, or other bioactive agents. The small size of the compounds allows more favorable delivery to tumor cells as compared to larger molecular weight imaging agents. The various dyes are useful over the range of 350-1300 nm, the exact range being dependent upon the particular dye. Use of dimethylsulfoxide helps to maintain the fluorescence of the compounds. The inventive compounds are useful for diagnostic imaging and therapy, in endoscopic applications for the detection of tumors and other abnormalities, for localized therapy, for photoacoustic tumor imaging, detection and therapy, and for sonofluorescence tumor imaging, detection and therapy.

The invention provides an array probe-based real-time photoacoustic imaging device, which belongs to the technical field of nondestructive testing on biological tissue. The array probe-based real-time photoacoustic imaging device in the invention adopts a multi-element array ultrasonic probe to synchronously observe and acquire photoacoustic signals which are amplified and then transmitted to an A/D converter for uniform sampling, and adopts an on-site programmable gate array FPGA to input acquired photoacoustic image data into a memory of a computer through a USB interface and perform online beamforming, digital signal and image processing and real-time display on acquired photoacoustic image data on the computer. The array probe-based real-time photoacoustic imaging device in the invention comprises a laser, the multi-element array ultrasonic probe, a multi-channel parallel acquisition circuit and the computer. The array probe-based real-time photoacoustic imaging device in the invention adopts a multi-channel parallel acquisition and distributed quickly-reconstructed processing mechanism and a hardware platform to ensure no bottleneck in a process of signal acquisition and signal processing and realize the real-time imaging of the photoacoustic signals, and adopts the multi-channel parallel acquisition circuit to realize the parallel acquisition and storage of the data; and in the multi-channel parallel acquisition circuit, the number of channels can be adjusted according to actual needs so as to acquire optimal imaging effect.

According to some embodiments of the invention, an ultrasound imaging system having real-time tracking and image registration includes a fiducial-marker system comprising an ultrasound transmitter structured to provide a localized ultrasound pulse at an optically observable localized spot on a body of interest. The system further includes an optical imaging system, a two-dimensional ultrasound imaging system, an optical image processing system, and an ultrasound image processing system The ultrasound imaging system further includes a registration system configured to communicate with the optical image processing system and the ultrasound image processing system to receive information, the registration system being further configured to determine a coordinate transformation that registers the optical image with the two-dimensional ultrasound image based at least partially on information concerning the spatial locations determined for the combined ultrasound and optical fiducial marker observed in the optical image and in the two-dimensional ultrasound image.