REAL-TIME PHOTOACOUSTIC AND ULTRASOUND IMAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

Methods and system for producing combined photoacoustic/ultrasonic image frames use a low-power narrow beam laser to direct sequential pulses along a path overlying an internal region of interest. Photoacoustic responses are received and used to generate sub-frames. Between each of the laser pulses a plurality of ultrasound pulse- echo beams are sequentially emitted towards the region of interest, and the reflections are received and used to generate ultrasound sub-frames. The photoacoustic sub-frames are combined to produce a photoacoustic frame, and the ultrasound sub-frames are combined to produce an ultrasound frame. The photoacoustic and ultrasound frames are combined to produce an image frame. The method and system are suitable for producing real-time, high-contrast video.