Development of laser induced real time photoacoustic tomography imaging system and phantom evaluation

Photoacoustic Tomography (PAT) is a promising medical imaging modality by reason of its particularity. It combines optical imaging contrast of optical imaging with the spatial resolution of ultrasound imaging and can demonstrate change of biological feature in an image. For that reason, many studies are in progress to apply this technic for diagnosis. But, real-time PAT system is necessary to confirm a biological reaction induced by external stimulation immediately. Thus, we developed a real-time PAT system using linear array transducer and self-developed Data acquisition board (DAQ) resources, To evaluate the feasibility and performance of our proposed system, two type of phantom test were also performed. As a result of those experiments, the proposed system shows enough performance and confirm its usefulness.