A significant advancement in medical imaging is detailed in the January 16 issue ofย Nature Biomedical Engineering. Researchers from Caltech and USC have developedย Rotational Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Tomography (RUS-PAT), a novel hybrid technique that overcomes the fundamental limitations of standalone ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging to deliver rapid, co-registered 3D structural and functional data.
The Core Innovation:ย Traditional ultrasound (US) excels at structural morphology but is limited in field of view and functional data. Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) maps optical absorption (e.g., hemoglobin, lipids) to visualize vasculature and oxygenation but lacks detailed structural context. RUS-PAT ingeniously solves the integration problem. It employs aย single, rotated, wide-field ultrasonic transducer arrayย to serve a dual purpose: 1) as aย broadcast sourceย for ultrasonic excitation (mimicking light diffusion in PAT) to generate reflection-mode US images, and 2) as aย detectorย for the resulting acoustic waves from both US and PAT modalities.
Key Technical Advantages:
Synergy without complexity:ย This shared-detector architecture avoids the prohibitive cost and complexity of integrating separate full US transmit/receive systems with PAT.
Depth & Speed:ย Demonstrated human imaging to ~4 cm depth, with full scans achievable in <60 seconds.
Label-free functional data:ย PAT component provides endogenous optical contrast (e.g., sO2, blood volume) without exogenous agents.
Translational Potential Demonstrated:ย The study validates feasibility in human subjects. Immediate applications include:
Oncologic Imaging:ย Precise breast tumor localizationย plusย characterization of vascular physiology/pathology.
Neuroimaging:ย Concurrent brain structure and hemodynamic observation.
Peripheral Neuropathy:ย Monitoring oxygen supply alongside nerve morphology in conditions like diabetic neuropathy.
This work, led by Lihong Wang’s group, represents a pivotal step toward a clinically viable, multi-parametric imaging tool that could shift diagnostic paradigms by providing a unified anatomical and functional dataset in a single, rapid, non-ionizing scan.
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