Combined 3D photoacoustic and 2D fluorescence imaging of indocyanine green contrast agent flow

Photoacoustic imaging uses laser induced ultrasound transients to generate optical absorption maps of the illuminated volume. In this work, we used a custom built photoacoustic imaging system consisting of a 60-channel transducer array, a 50 MHz data acquisition system, and an Nd:YAG pumped OPO laser, to perform simultaneous photoacoustic and fluorescence imaging. A single 780 nm laser pulse generated both ultrasound and fluorescence, enabling reconstruction of images for both modalities with near perfect temporal co-registration. The result highlighted the ability of photoacoustic imaging to supplement fluorescence data when optical scatter reduces fluorescence resolution beyond its useful range.