Author(s): Weylan R. Thompson, Hans-Peter F. Brecht, Vassili Ivanov, Anthony M. Yu, Diego S. Dumani, Dylan J. Lawrence, Stanislav Y. Emelianov, Sergey A. Ermilov
ABSTRACT
SIGNIFICANCE
To effectively study preclinical animal models, medical imaging technology must be developed with a high enough resolution and sensitivity to perform anatomical, functional, and molecular assessments. Photoacoustic (PA) tomography provides high resolution and specificity, and fluorescence (FL) molecular tomography provides high sensitivity; the combination of these imaging modes will enable a wide range of research applications to be studied in small animals.
AIM
We introduce and characterize a dual-modality PA and FL imaging platform using in vivo and phantom experiments.
APPROACH
The imaging platform’s detection limits were characterized through phantom studies that determined the PA spatial resolution, PA sensitivity, optical spatial resolution, and FL sensitivity.