Photoacoustic scanner for quantitative small animal imaging

有了NSERC Discovery的资金，劳森健康研究所(Lawson)的成像科学家、西安大略大学(UWO)医学生物物理学助理教授杰弗里·卡森博士将有可能为小动物成像研究开发光声扫描仪。光声成像是一种非破坏性技术，使用激光以极高的清晰度可视化内部器官和血管。传统的激光成像方法对被称为光学散射的物理过程很敏感，这种物理过程降低了显示皮肤表面以下内部特征的能力。光声成像对光学散射的退化效应不敏感，从而产生高分辨率的图像。该技术使用简短但强烈的激光脉冲来引起内部特征的声音发射。然后，声音通过一组超声换能器在动物外部被探测到。卡森博士和他的学生正在建造一种光声扫描仪。他们计划使用扫描仪来研究提高清晰度、质量和质量的方法。以及光声图像的含义。然后，他们将确定穿透动物深处的近红外线激光脉冲是否可以帮助光声扫描仪看到皮肤表面以下厘米以下的特征。然后，他们将研究增加换能器的数量是否可以减少获取图像的时间。最后，他们将改变激光的输出波长(即颜色)，以确定光声成像是否可以识别动物组织的化学组成。首先，这项测试将在无生命物体上进行，然后扩展到活体动物，如麻醉下的实验室小鼠。这项研究将产生一种光声扫描仪，能够对小动物的内脏和血管进行无损成像。此外，这项研究将带来技术改进，允许以比其他扫描仪更快的速度获得更高质量的图像。该光声扫描仪将代表劳森和UWO的一个独特设施，可能也是加拿大唯一的同类设施。

With the NSERC Discovery funds to Dr. Jeffrey Carson, an Imaging Scientist at the Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson) and an Assistant Professor of Medical Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), it will be possible for his laboratory to develop a photoacoustic scanner for small animal imaging research.  Photoacoustic imaging is a non-destructive technique that uses laser light to visualize internal organs and blood vessels with great clarity. Traditional laser imaging methods are sensitive to a physical process called optical scatter, which degrades the ability to visualize internal features below the surface of the skin.  Photoacoustic imaging is insensitive to the degrading effects of optical scatter and results in high-resolution images.  The technique uses brief, but intense pulses of laser light to cause sound emission from internal features.  The sound is then detected outside the animal using an array of ultrasound transducers.  Dr. Carson and his students are building a photoacoustic scanner.  They plan to use the scanner to study methods to improve the clarity, quality, and meaning of photoacoustic images.  They will determine if laser pulses of near infrared light, which penetrate deep into the animal, can help the photoacoustic scanner see features a centimetre of more below the surface of the skin.  They will examine if increasing the number of transducers can reduce the time to acquire an image.  Finally, they will vary the output wavelength (i.e. colour) of the laser to establish if photoacoustic imaging can identify the chemical make-up of animal tissue.  At first, the testing will be on inanimate objects and then extended to live animals such as laboratory mice under anaesthetic.  The research will result in a photoacoustic scanner that is capable of non-destructive imaging of the internal organs and blood vessels of small animals.  The research will lead to technological improvements that permit the acquisition of higher quality images at a faster rate compared to scanners elsewhere.  The photoacoustic scanner will represent a unique facility at the Lawson and UWO and probably the only one of its kind in Canada.