Photoacoustic Tomography for Biomedical Applications

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) has quickly become one of the fastest growing biomedical imaging modalities, since its first demonstration of functional imaging in small animal about a decade ago. Combining optical excitation with acoustic detection, PAT can provide detailed color pictures of tissues deep into the body without the radiation hazard of X-rays, the lack of soft-tissue contrast in ultrasonography, or the superficial penetration limitation of optical microscopy. This article will present cutting-edge PAT technologies, focusing on their preclinical and clinical applications in biomedicine.