PHOTOACOUSTIC INTRAVASCULAR PROBE

摘要

Apparatus for imaging a region of a lumen of a conduit comprising: an elongate body having a distal end that can be positioned in the lumen; at least one radiating element located in a neighborhood of the distal end from which radiation is transmitted to illuminate the lumen at at least one wavelength that stimulates thermoacoustic waves in features of the lumen and/or its walls; at least one acoustic transducer that generates signals responsive to the thermoacoustic waves; at least one acoustic transducer controllable to illuminate the lumen with ultrasound; at least one acoustic transducer that generates signals responsive to acoustic energy reflected from the transmitted ultrasound by features of the lumen; and a controller that processes the signals responsive to reflected acoustic energy to generate an ultrasound image of the lumen and the signals responsive to the thermoacoustic waves to assay a component of material in the lumen and/or the lumen walls.