Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol.

147, 122, 2014

Photoacoustic Tomography: Principles and Advances

Jun Xia, Junjie Yao, and Lihong V. Wang*

(Invited Review)

AbstractPhotoacoustic tomography (PAT) is an emerging imaging modality that shows great

potential for preclinical research and clinical practice. As a hybrid technique, PAT is based on the
acoustic detection of optical absorption from either endogenous chromophores, such as oxy-hemoglobin
and deoxy-hemoglobin, or exogenous contrast agents, such as organic dyes and nanoparticles. Because
ultrasound scatters much less than light in tissue, PAT generates high-resolution images in both the
optical ballistic and diffusive regimes. Over the past decade, the photoacoustic technique has been
evolving rapidly, leading to a variety of exciting discoveries and applications. This review covers the
basic principles of PAT and its different implementations. Strengths of PAT are highlighted along with
the most recent imaging results.

1. INTRODUCTION

With recent advances in photonics and optical molecular probes, optical imaging plays an increasingly
important role in preclinical and clinical imaging. A fundamental constraint of optical imaging is light
diffusion, which limits the spatial resolution in deep-tissue imaging. In the past decade, photoacoustic
(PA) tomography (PAT) has emerged as a promising modality that overcomes this challenge [1, 2]. PAT
capitalizes on the photoacoustic effect, which converts absorbed optical energy into acoustic energy.
Because acoustic waves scatter much less than optical waves in tissue, PAT can generate high-resolution
images in both the optically ballistic and diffusive regimes. With signals originating from optical
absorption, PAT readily takes advantage of rich endogenous and exogenous optical contrasts. For
instance, endogenous oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin can serve as anatomical and functional contrasts
for imaging vascular structures, hemoglobin oxygen saturation (sO2 ) [3], the speed of blood flow [4],
and the metabolic rate of oxygen [5]. Abroad choice of exogenous contrasts, including dyes [6, 7],
nanoparticles [810], and reporter genes [11, 12], can be used for molecular imaging. In molecular
PAT, molecular images are naturally co-registered with high-resolution anatomical/vascular images,
enabling precise localization of the molecular process. Compared with other mainstream biomedical
imaging modalities, the merits of PAT can be summarized as follows. (1) Compared with purely optical
tomography, such as diffuse optical tomography (DOT) and fluorescence tomography (FMT), PAT can
penetrate deeper and sustain high spatial resolution within the entire field of view. (2) Compared with
ultrasonic imaging, PAT has rich intrinsic and extrinsic optical contrasts and is free of speckle artifacts.
(3) Compared with X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) and positron emission tomography (PET),
PAT uses nonionizing laser illumination. (4) Compared with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), PAT is
faster and less expensive. These unique advantages position PAT to make a broad impact in preclinical
studies and clinical practice.

Received 23 March 2014, Accepted 10 May 2014, Scheduled 15 May 2014

* Corresponding author: Lihong V. Wang (lhwang@wustl.edu).
The authors are with the Optical Imaging Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis,
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA. Jun Xia and Junjie Yao contributed equally.
2 Xia, Yao, and Wang

Over the past ten years, PAT has been evolving rapidly, and applications of PAT have been
established in vascular biology [1316], oncology [1724], neurology [2529], ophthalmology [3034],
dermatology [3539], gastroenterology [4044], and cardiology [37, 4547]. The purpose of this review
is to provide a general overview of the PAT technique. The second section covers the fundamental
principles of PAT, including signal generation and image formation. The third section introduces the
two major implementations of PAT, photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) and photoacoustic
microscopy (PAM). The last section highlights the strengths of PAT and describes the most recent
advances.

2. PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY

2.1. Signal Generation in PAT

As mentioned previously, PAT signals originate from optical absorption. The process of photoacoustic
signal generation can be described in three steps: (1) an object absorbs light, (2) the absorbed optical
energy is converted into heat and generates a temperature rise, and (3) thermoelastic expansion takes
place, resulting in the emission of acoustic waves. Typical endogenous tissue chromophores (optical
absorbers) include hemoglobin, melanin, and water. As shown in Figure 1, the optical absorption
coefficients are sensitive to wavelength, and thus the concentration of each chromophore can be extracted
through spectroscopic inversion. For instance, functional photoacoustic imaging of sO2 relies on the
absorption difference between oxy-hemoglobin (HbO2 ) and deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR) [3].

100000

10000
Absorption coefficient (cm-1)

1000
Melanin
100 HbR
10
Hbo2
1

0.1 Water
0.01

1E-3
Lipid
1E-4
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Wavelength (nm)

Figure 1. Absorption coefficient spectra of endogenous tissue chromophores at their typical

concentrations in the human body. Oxy-hemoglobin (HbO2 ) and deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR), 150 gL1 .
Water, 60% by weight. Lipid, 16% by weight. Melanin concentration corresponds to that in normal
skin. Adapted from http://omlc.ogi.edu.

To generate acoustic waves, the thermal expansion needs to be time variant. This requirement can
be achieved by using either a pulsed laser [48] or a continuous-wave (CW) laser with intensity modulation
at a constant [49] or variable frequency [50]. Pulsed excitations are the most widely used because they
provide a higher signal to noise ratio than CW excitations, if both use the maximum allowable fluence
or power set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) [49, 51, 52]. Following a short laser
pulse excitation, the local fractional volume expansion dV /V can be expressed as
dV
= p (~r) + T (~r) (1)
V
where is the isothermal compressibility, the thermal coefficient of volume expansion, and p(~r) and
T (~r) are changes in pressure and temperature, respectively.
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 147, 2014 3

For effective PAT signal generation, the laser pulse duration is normally within several nanoseconds,
which is less than both the thermal and stress confinement times. The thermal confinement indicates
that thermal diffusion during laser illumination can be neglected, i.e., [53]
d2c
< th = . (2)
4DT
Here, th is the thermal confinement threshold, dc the desired spatial resolution, and DT the thermal
diffusivity ( 0.14 mm2 /s for soft tissue [54]).
The stress confinement means the volume expansion of the absorber during the illumination period
can be neglected. This condition can be written as
dc
< st = , (3)
vs
where vs is the speed of sound.
For a 100 m spatial resolution, the thermal confinement time is 18 ms and the stress confinement
time is 67 ns. A typical pulsed laser has a pulse duration of only 10 ns. In this case, the fractional
volume expansion in Eq. (1) is negligible and the initial photoacoustic pressure p0 (~r) can be written as
T (~r)
p0 (~r) = . (4)

For soft tissue, is approximately 5 1010 Pa1 , and is around 4 104 K1 . Thus each mK
temperature rise generates a 800 Pa pressure rise, which is detectable ultrasonically. The temperature
rise can be further expressed as a function of optical absorption,
Ae
T = . (5)
CV
Here is the mass density, CV the specific heat capacity at constant volume, and Ae the absorbed
energy density, which is a product of the absorption coefficient a and the local optical fluence F (~r).
Based on Eqs. (4) and (5), the initial photoacoustic pressure can be written as
Ae
p0 (~r) = = a F (~r) . (6)
CV
Here (~r) = CV is the Grueneisen parameter, which increases as the temperature rises. Thus PAT can
also be used to monitor temperature [55, 56]. Eq. (6) indicates that, to extract the objects absorption
coefficient from pressure measurements, the local fluence F (~r) needs to be quantified.
Once the initial pressure p0 (~r) is generated, it splits into two waves with equal magnitude, traveling
in opposite directions. The shape of the wavefront depends on the geometry of the object. For a
spherical object, two spherical waves will be generated: one travels outward, and the other travels
inward as compression followed by rarefaction. Thus the photoacoustic signal has a bipolar shape and
the distance between the two peaks is proportional to the size of the object. In other words, a smaller
object generates a photoacoustic signal with higher frequency components.
The generated photoacoustic pressure propagates through the sample and is detected by an
ultrasonic transducer or transducer array. The goal of photoacoustic image formation is to recover
the distribution of p0 (~r) from the time-resolved ultrasonic signals.

2.2. Image Formation in PAT

Based on the image formation methods, PAT has two major implementations [2]. The first, direct
image formation, is based on mechanical scanning of a focused single-element ultrasonic transducer, and
is commonly used in photoacoustic microscopy (PAM). The second, reconstruction image formation,
is based on mechanical/electronic scanning of a multi-element transducer array, and is used in
photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT). In PAM, the received photoacoustic signal originates
primarily from the volume laterally confined by the acoustic focus and can be simply converted into a
one-dimensional image along the acoustic axis. In PACT, each transducer element has a large acceptance
4 Xia, Yao, and Wang

angle within the field of view, and a PA image can be reconstructed only by merging data from all
transducer elements. In the following, we will discuss PACT image reconstruction in detail.
For an ideal point transducer placed at ~rd , the detected photoacoustic signal can be written as [57]
" ZZ #
t
pd (~rd , t) = p0 (~r) d . (7)
t 4 |~
rd ~
r|=vs t

Here d is the solid-angle element of ~r with respect to the point at ~rd , and vs is the speed of sound.
Eq. (7) indicates that the detected pressure at time t comes from sources over a spherical shell centered
at the detector position ~rd with a radius vs t. The initial pressure distribution p0 (~r) can be obtained by
inverting Eq. (7). For spherical, planar and cylindrical detection geometries, exact inversion solutions
have been provided by Xu et al. [57]. The so-called universal back-projection (UBP) algorithm can be
expressed in the temporal domain as [58]:
Z
1 pd (~rd , t)
p0 (~r) = d 2pd (~rd , t) 2t . (8)
0 s t t=|~
rd ~
r|/c

Here, 0 is the solid angle of the whole detection surface S with respect to a given source point at ~r.
Eq. (8) indicates that p0 (~r) can be obtained by back-projecting the filtered data, [2p(~rd , t) 2t p(~
rd ,t)
t ],
onto a collection of concentric spherical surfaces that are centered at each transducer location ~rd , with
d/0 as the weighting factor applied to each back-projection.
A variety of other reconstruction algorithms have also been developed [5961]. Among them,
the time-reversal (TR) method is the least restrictive [62], as it can be applied to arbitrarily closed
surfaces and can incorporate acoustic heterogeneities, such as variations in speed of sound and acoustic
attenuation [61, 63]. In the TR method, the measured acoustic waves are retransmitted in a temporally
reversed order. This procedure is done by solving the wave propagation model backwards from t = T
to t = 0, using the measured data as the boundary condition. Here T is the maximum time for the
wave to traverse the detection domain. Solving such an equation requires numerical methods, such as
finite-difference techniques [64]. Compared to UBP, TR is computationally more intensive, as it needs
to compute the wave field within the entire detection geometry. An open source MATLAB toolbox
(k-Wave) for TR reconstruction has been made available by Treeby et al. [64].
Both UBP and TR algorithms assume idealized point-like ultrasonic transducers with a large
acceptance angle and an infinite temporal-frequency bandwidth, which are practically unachievable.
The impact of transducer characteristics on spatial resolution was first investigated by Xu et al. in 2003,
who found that the bandwidth affects both axial and lateral resolutions, while the detector aperture
mainly affects the lateral resolution [65]. In terms of reconstruction accuracy, directly applying UBP or
TR algorithms to experimental data could be problematic because the transducer response acts as an
additional filter to the original pressure. Recently, based on the transducer characteristics, advanced
image reconstruction algorithms have been developed to provide more accurate images than UBP or
TR [66, 67].
It should also be noted that, in practice, the detection surface can never be infinite and can
hardly be closed. For instance, due to the chest wall, a spherical-view breast scanner can achieve only
hemispherical coverage. As a consequence, only part of the photoacoustic wavefront is detected, yielding
incomplete data. Such limited-view PACT normally suffers from missing or blurred boundaries [68].
In addition, the spatial sampling over the detection aperture could be insufficient, causing streaking
artifacts or grating lobes [69]. A variety of algorithms have been proposed to improve the image quality
of limited-view or under-sampled PACT. For instance, iterative image reconstruction algorithms have
been developed to enhance the boundary sharpness [68]. For linear-array-based PACT systems, acoustic
reflectors have been employed to redirect part of the photoacoustic wave back to the transducer, and
thus improve the detection coverage [70]. When the target objects are sparse, compressed-sensing-based
algorithms have been used in PACT to reduce the density of spatial sampling [69, 71].
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 147, 2014 5

3. PHOTOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEMS

3.1. Photoacoustic Computed Tomography

As mentioned above, PACT has three canonical detection geometries: planar, cylindrical, and spherical.
Each geometry has a variety of implementations. For a planar-view PACT system, the photoacoustic
signal can be detected by either a 2D matrix piezoelectric transducer array [72] or a Fabry-Perot
interferometer (FPI) (Figure 2(a)) [73, 74]. Ideally, each transducer element needs to be smaller than
the acoustic wavelength in order to ensure a large receiving angle. In this regard, the FPI sensor is
advantageous because of its high detection sensitivity and small element size, which is defined by the
focal size of the probe beam. However, because the current FPI-based PACT system uses only one
probe beam (Figure 2(a)), its imaging speed is much lower than that of a 2D-matrix-array-based PACT
system [72]. Figure 2(b) shows an in situ image of the abdomen of a pregnant mouse, acquired by the
FPI-based PACT system [75]. Two embryos (shaded red) can be clearly seen, along with the vasculature
of the uterus and the skin.
Cylindrical-view PACT is commonly implemented by a ring-transducer array. To improve the
cross-sectional imaging capability, each element in the array is usually cylindrically focused, and thus
rejects out-of-plane signals. Strictly speaking, such a system is a circular-view PACT. However, a three-
dimensional (3D) image can still be acquired by scanning the sample or array along the elevational
direction. The 3D data can be reconstructed using a modified back projection algorithm, which accounts
for the transducers spatial response [76]. Compared to planar- and spherical-view PACT, which can
perform only 3D imaging, circular-view PACT has both 2D and 3D imaging capabilities, and can be
used for high-speed cross-sectional (2D) dynamic imaging [77]. Figure 3 shows a schematic of a ring-
array-based small-animal imaging system and representative images [78]. Blood-rich organs, such as
the liver, spleen, spine, kidneys, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract, are clearly visible. Detailed vascular
structures within these organs are also visible, indicating that the system can be used for angiographic
imaging.

(a) (b)

Figure 2. (a) Schematic illustrating the operation of the Fabry-Perot interferometer-based PACT
imaging system. Photoacoustic waves are generated by the absorption of nanosecond optical pulses
provided by a wavelength-tunable OPO laser and detected by a transparent Fabry-Perot polymer
film ultrasound sensor. The sensor comprises a pair of dichroic mirrors separated by a 40 m thick
polymer spacer, thus forming a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI). The waves are mapped in 2D by
raster-scanning a CW focused interrogation laser beam across the sensor and recording the acoustically
induced modulation of the reflectivity of the FPI at each scanning point. (b) Maximum amplitude
projection of the complete three dimensional image dataset (depth 0 to 6 mm), showing two embryos
(shaded red). Reproduced with permission from [75].
6 Xia, Yao, and Wang

A spherical-view PACT system can provide nearly isotropic spatial resolution within the central
imaging region. There are multiple variations of spherical-view PACT, including an arc-shaped
transducer array that scans around the object [80, 81] and a hemispherical transducer array with
elements distributed in a spiral pattern [82, 83]. Both systems require mechanical scanning, and an
image can be reconstructed only after a complete 3D scan, making real-time imaging challenging.
Advanced image reconstruction algorithms, such as highly constrained back projection [82], have been
proposed to allow dynamic imaging from highly under-sampled data. Figure 4(a) is a photograph of
an arc-array-based spherical-view PACT system [80]. For a complete volumetric scan, the animal was
rotated 360 degrees in 150 steps. The volumetric image (Figure 4(b)) clearly shows the left and right
kidneys, the spleen, and a partial lobe of the liver. The inferior vena cava and its bifurcation into the
femoral veins can be seen.
For all three detection geometries, the axial resolution is spatially invariant and is primarily
determined by the bandwidth of the ultrasonic transducer [65]. For a wideband transducer, the axial
resolution, a, approximates 0.6c , where c is the acoustic wavelength at the high cutoffp frequency. The
lateral resolution for spherical- and cylindrical-view PACTs can be characterized by a2 + [(r/r0 )d]2 ,
where r is the distance between the imaging point and the scanning center, r0 is the radius of the scan
circle, and d is the width
of each transducer element [84]. The lateral resolution for a planar-view PACT
can be characterized by a2 + d2 .

3.2. Photoacoustic Microscopy

Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) is another major implementation of PAT, which images targets in
the (quasi)ballistic and quasidiffusive regimes at high spatial resolution at depths [85]. Here, we define
microscopy as an imaging modality with a spatial resolution finer than 50 m, since unaided eyes
can discern only features larger than 50 m. As mentioned previously, the most significant difference
between PAM and PACT is that PAM uses a focused single-element ultrasonic transducer for direct
image formation, while PACT typically uses a multi-element transducer array or its equivalent for digital
image reconstruction.
The lateral resolution of PAM is determined by the product of the point spread functions of the light
illumination and acoustic detection [85]. The axial resolution of PAM is determined by the detection
bandwidth of the ultrasonic transducer, which is chosen to match the acoustic path length due to
frequency-dependent acoustic attenuation in tissue [85]. Based on the dominant determining factor for
lateral resolution, PAM can be further classified into optical-resolution PAM (OR-PAM) and acoustic-

(a) LV GI
Laser beam PV

Conical lens
Anesthesia
gas tube SP
VC KN KN
5 mm SC BM SC
Optical
Condenser Tube
Computer
Pressure sensor for
respiratory gating

Data acquisition
Full-ring transducer array system

Figure 3. (a) Schematic of a ring-shaped confocal photoacoustic computed tomography (RC-PACT)

system. (b), (c) In vivo RC-PACT images of athymic mice acquired noninvasively at the (b) liver and
(c) kidney regions. BM, backbone muscle; GI, GI tract; KN, kidney; LV, liver; PV, portal vein; SC,
spinal cord; SP, spleen; and VC, vena cava. Reproduced with permission from [78, 79].
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 147, 2014 7

(a) (b)

Figure 4. (a) Photograph of an arc-array-based spherical-view PACT system. (b) Three-dimensional

photoacoustic image of a female nude mouse. Reproduced with permission from [80].

resolution PAM (AR-PAM). In OR-PAM, the laser beam is tightly focused to a diffraction-limited spot,
which is typically more than 10 times smaller in diameter than the acoustic focusing. Therefore, the
lateral resolution of OR-PAM is primarily determined by the optical focal spot size (Figure 5(a)) [86, 87].
Since OR-PAM relies highly on the tight optical focusing, it can penetrate about one optical transport
mean free path (TMFT) in tissue ( 1 mm in muscle and 0.6 mm in the brain), limited by the strong
optical scattering. In contrast, in AR-PAM, the excitation laser beam is only loosely focused to fulfill the
entire acoustic detection volume (Figure 5(b)). In this case, the lateral resolution does not closely depend
on the tissues optical scattering characteristics, because it is the ultrasonic focusing that determines the
lateral resolution at depths within a few TMFTs [3, 88]. As a variant of PAM miniaturized for internal
organ imaging, photoacoustic endoscopy (PAE) is typically based on rotational scanning [8993]. PAE
can be configured in either optical-resolution [90] or acoustic-resolution modes [93].
By adjusting the optical illumination and/or acoustic detection configurations, PAM can scale in
spatial resolution and penetration depth over a wide range [85]. Specifically, the lateral resolution of
OR-PAM can be scaled down by either increasing the numerical aperture (NA) of the objective lens
or using a shorter excitation wavelength, with the maximum imaging depth scaled accordingly. In
comparison, the lateral resolution of AR-PAM can be scaled by varying the acoustic central frequency
and the NA of the acoustic lens. Detailed reviews about PAM technologies can be found in two recent
publications [2, 85].

4. STRENGTHS OF PAT

4.1. Multi-scale PAT

As a hybrid technique, PAT has the unique capability of scaling its spatial resolution and imaging depth
across both optical and ultrasonic dimensions [2]. For OR-PAM, whose lateral resolution is mainly
determined by the numerical aperture (NA) of the optical microscopic objective, a higher NA improves
the lateral resolution, but decreases the imaging depth. For instance, a 1.23-NA OR-PAM system has
a 0.22 m lateral resolution and 100 m imaging depth, while a 0.1-NA OR-PAM system has a 2.6 m
lateral resolution and a 1.2 mm imaging depth [2]. In the optically diffusive region, the spatial resolution
is acoustically defined. While a higher central frequency transducer provides a higher spatial resolution,
the frequency-dependent acoustic attenuation ( 1 dB/MHz/cm in muscle) limits the imaging depth.
Thus an AR-PAM system normally employs a transducer with a central frequency greater than 20 MHz
8 Xia, Yao, and Wang

to provide a sub 100 m lateral resolution with an imaging depth of several millimeters. Low frequency
(< 10 MHz) transducers are commonly used in PACT systems to provide an imaging depth greater than
1 cm. Above 10 cm, the imaging depth is also limited by light attenuation, which is a combined effect of
optical absorption and scattering. With recent advances in optical wave-front engineering [95, 96], we
expect the attenuation through optical scattering to be minimized, and PAT to eventually image tens
of centimeters deep in tissue.
The multi-scale imaging capability of PAT was demonstrated by imaging the expression of LacZ, a
widely used reporter gene in molecular imaging [97]. It encodes -galactosidase, an E. coli enzyme
responsible for metabolizing lactose into glucose and galactose. This enzyme also causes bacteria
expressing the gene to appear blue when grown on a medium that contains the substrate analog X-
gal [98]. The blue product has strong optical absorption at wavelengths from 605 nm to 665 nm, and
thus provides a good contrast for deep PA imaging. The multi-scale PAT experiment was performed on
a mouse with a subcutaneously inoculated tumor. To demonstrate the imaging depth, multiple pieces
of chicken breast tissues were overlaid on the tumor, and photoacoustic images were acquired by a linear
ultrasound transducer array with 48 MHz bandwidth [99]. Figure 6(a) is a composite photoacoustic
and ultrasound B-mode image. It can be seen that the expression of LacZ remained visible at a depth
of 5 cm in biological tissue. The tumor-to-background contrast was found to be 3 [99]. The chicken
breast tissues were then removed, and the mouse was imaged using the AR-PAM system with a 45 m
lateral resolution and a 15 m axial resolution. Two laser wavelengths, 635 nm and 584 nm, were used

x x
Laser
Beam Laser z
z
Beam
Conical
Objective lens
CorL UT

RAP RhP UT Mirror

SOL Acoustic
beam
WT AL
AL WT
Object Acoustic Object
beam
(a) (b)
OR-PAM AR-PAM
x

200 m

z 100 m

0 PA amplitude 1

(c) (d)

Figure 5. Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM). (a) Second-generation optical-resolution photoacoustic

microscopy system (2G-OR-PAM), where the lateral resolution is determined by the diffraction-limited
optical focusing. AL, acoustic lens; Corl, correction lens; RAP, right angled prism; RhP, rhomboid prism;
SOL, silicone oil layer; UT, ultrasonic transducer; WT, water tank. (b) Dark-field acoustic-resolution
photoacoustic microscopy (AR-PAM), where the lateral resolution is determined by the diffraction-
limited acoustic focusing. (c), (d) In vivo label-free mouse ear vasculature imaged by (a) OR-PAM
and (b) AR-PAM. A representative cross-sectional image is shown at the bottom. While OR-PAM
shows better resolution, AR-PAM has greater penetration depth (shown by arrows). Reproduced with
permission from [94].
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 147, 2014 9

Figure 6. Multi-scale photoacoustic images of LacZ gene expression. (a) B-scan image of a lacZ -
marked tumor at a 5-cm depth in biological tissue, acquired by overlaying chicken breast tissue on
top of a mouse. Photoacoustic images are colored green, while ultrasonic images are in gray. (b) 3D
depiction of a composite photoacoustic image, showing the tumor and blood vessels imaged with AR-
PAM. Green: tumor. The scale bar represents 2 mm. (c) An OR-PAM image of fixed lacZ cells grown
on a cover glass after staining with X-gal. nu: cell nucleus. The scale bar represents 10 m. Reproduced
with permission from [99].

to maximize the difference between the optical absorption of hemoglobin and the blue product. The
combined image in Figure 6(b) clearly shows the spatial relation between the tumor and the surrounding
microvasculature. An OR-PAM system was also used. Figure 6(c) shows fixed lacZ cells grown on a
cover glass after staining with X-gal. With a spatial resolution of 0.4 m, the lacZ cell structure can
be resolved. Strong absorbers can be seen around the low absorbing center (cell nuclei), indicating that
the blue product exists mostly in the cytoplasm.
This study demonstrates that PAT can image reporter genes from the microscopic to the
macroscopic scales. Currently multi-scale PAT imaging is performed using different PAT systems.
With the introduction of optical-resolution photoacoustic computed microscopy [100], which achieves
optical-resolution imaging in a PACT system, multi-scale PAT images can potentially be acquired using
a single setup.

4.2. Super-Resolution PAT

Super-resolution imaging has opened new possibilities for fundamental biological studies. With
resolutions finer than the optical diffraction limit ( 250 nm in lateral direction at high optical NA),
super-resolution imaging has enabled observations of cellular and subcellular structures and processes
that are unresolvable by conventional microscopes [101]. However, most of the existing super-resolution
imaging techniques can perform only fluorescence imaging by using multiple lasers and/or chemical
manipulation of fluorophores, resulting in complex system configurations and strict requirements for the
fluorescent targets. PAT, on the other hand, can potentially image both fluorescent and nonfluorescent
molecules at appropriate wavelengths. Recently, progress has been made to break the diffraction limits
in PAT for super-resolution imaging.
In OR-PAM, Yao et al. overcame the optical-diffraction limit by using the excitation-intensity
10 Xia, Yao, and Wang

(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 7. Super-resolution photoacoustic microscopy. (a) Photoimprint photoacoustic microscopy (PI-

PAM) [102]. Since the photobleaching rate depends on the local excitation intensity, the first excitation
bleaches the center part of the illuminated region more than the periphery, leaving an imprint in the
sample. The differential signal between before- and after-bleaching images results in a smaller effective
excitation size and thus a resolution enhancement, as shown by the dashed circle in the bottom panel.
(b) PI-PAM imaging of gold nanoparticles with enhanced lateral resolution. (c) Wavefront-shaping
assisted sub-acoustic resolution PA imaging. Each photoacoustic emission from the speckle grains is
weighted by the Gaussian detection sensitivity of the acoustic transducer [104]. (d), (e) Photoacoustic
images of a sweet bee wing created with (d) random optical speckle illumination and (e) wavefront
optimized speckle focus, showing the superior resolution of the latter method. Adapted with permission
from [102, 104].

dependence of the photobleaching effect (Figures 7(a)(b)) [102]. Within the optical focal spot,
molecules in the center part of the illuminated region are bleached more than those in the periphery,
leaving an imprint in the sample. The pixel-by-pixel differences between the image acquired before and
after the bleaching highlight the central region of the excitation spot. Sub-diffraction PA imaging of gold
nanoparticles has been demonstrated with a resolution of 80 nm, three times smaller than the optical
diffraction limit. Another sub-optical-diffraction PA imaging method was reported by Nedosekin et al.,
with a resolution of 100 nm for nanoparticles, where nonlinear signal amplification by nanobubbles
circumvented the optical diffraction limit [103]. In this method, the center region of the excitation spot
generated nanobubbles with greater sizes than the periphery. Collapse of the nanobubbles enhanced
the PA signals non-uniformly across the excitation field, highlighting the center region.
In addition to the sub-optical-diffraction imaging in the optical (quasi)ballistic regime in OR-PAM,
sub-acoustic-diffraction imaging in the optical diffusive regime has also been achieved in AR-PAM.
Conkey et al. and Lai et al. reported sub-acoustic-diffraction imaging methods using the photoacoustic
signal as feedback for wavefront shaping optimization [104, 105]. Conkey et al.s method takes advantage
of the Gaussian-shape detection sensitivity of a focused ultrasonic transducer (Figures 7(c)(e)).
Photoacoustic imaging behind a scattering medium was demonstrated with a resolution of 13 m,
five to six times smaller than the acoustic diffraction limit [104]. Based on the Grueneisen memory
effect, Lai et al.s method utilizes nonlinear PA signals as feedback to guide iterative wavefront
optimization [105]. Experimental results demonstrated an optical diffraction-limited focus on the scale
of 57 m in scattering media, ten times smaller than the acoustic diffraction limit, with an enhancement
factor of 6, 000 in peak fluence [105].
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 147, 2014 11

Tumor

1 mm

Tumor

200 m 200 m

0.2 sO 2 1.0 0 z (mm) 0.5

Figure 8. Multi-parameter PA imaging. (a) Photograph of a mouse ear bearing a U87 glioblastoma
tumor. (b) Depth-encoded vascular image acquired with OR-PAM, showing the tortuous blood vessels
in the tumor. (c) sO2 map of the tumor region, showing the hyperoxic status of the early-stage tumor.

4.3. Multi-parameter PAT

PA signals can be used to derive a number of anatomical, functional, and metabolic parameters of the
tissue microenvironment. Since a single parameter may not be able to fully reflect the true physiological
and pathological conditions, multi-parameter PA imaging can potentially provide more comprehensive
information for diagnosis, staging, and treatment of diseases. Here, we will review a few representative
parameters that can be measured by PAT, together with the corresponding technologies.
For hemoglobin, the total concentration (CHb ) and oxygen saturation (sO2 ) are the most commonly
used indexes of blood perfusion and oxygenation, respectively. In particular, increased CHb due to
angiogenesis and decreased sO2 due to hypoxia are both hallmarks of late stage cancers, while hyperoxia
is associated with early-stage cancers (Figure 8) [5, 106]. From fluence-compensated PA measurements
at the isosbestic wavelengths of hemoglobin (498 nm, 568 nm, and 794 nm), the PA signal amplitude
reflects the CHb distribution, regardless of the oxygenation level [5]. From fluence-compensated PA
measurements at two or more wavelengths, the relative concentrations of the two forms of hemoglobin
(HbO2 and HbR) can be quantified through spectral analysis, and thus sO2 can be computed [5, 101, 107
112]. In practice, however, accurate laser fluence compensation for absolute CHb and sO2 quantification
can be very challenging, especially for AR-PAM and PACT. A potential solution is to incorporate
PAT with diffuse reflectance spectroscopy [113] or diffuse optical tomography (DOT) [114], which can
quantify the tissues optical properties or the fluence distribution. Alternatively, the frequency spectra
of PA signals at multiple optical wavelengths can be used to fit for absolute concentrations of HbO2 and
HbR, and thus CHb and sO2 , where fluence compensation is not required [115, 116]. Recently, another
calibration-free method for absolute sO2 quantification in PACT has been developed by Xia et al., based
on the dynamics of the PA signals at different oxygenation states [117].
Using the excellent absorption contrast between intra- and extra-vascular spaces provided by
hemoglobin, PAT can be employed to measure blood flow [109, 111, 118120]. So far, a number of
methods have been developed for PA measurement of blood flow speed. Similar to Doppler ultrasound,
photoacoustic Doppler flowmetry measures the axial flow speed on the basis of Doppler frequency
shift [4, 121, 122]. Correlation-based photoacoustic flowmetry measures the transverse or axial flow
12 Xia, Yao, and Wang

speeds by performing either temporal autocorrelation [18, 123126] or cross-correlation [127] over
consecutive photoacoustic waveforms, respectively. Photoacoustic thermal flowmetry can measure flow
speed based on thermal convection [128]. Similarly, PA imaging of wash-in and wash-out dynamics of
nanoparticles or organic dyes can also provide flow information [129131]. Another method, developed
by Zhang et al., measures the flow speed in a homogenous medium, based on structured illumination and
the Doppler frequency shift induced by the flowing medium [132]. However, all of the above methods
have difficulty in deep flow measurement, because they all rely on resolvable particles in the media
or clearly defined illumination patterns. This issue has recently been solved by thermally tagging the
flowing medium using a HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound) transducer and detecting the tagged
medium using AR-PAM and PACT [56, 133]. Blood flow under a 5-mm-thick layer of chicken tissue was
measured with a sensitivity of 0.25 mm/s [56].
The metabolism of oxygen and glucose directly reflects tissue functioning. Almost all diseases,
especially cancers, manifest abnormal oxygen and glucose metabolism [106, 134]. Currently, OR-
PAM can noninvasively quantify absolute oxygen metabolism using endogenous contrast [5, 135].
Alternatively, PAM can be integrated with Doppler OCT or Doppler ultrasound for oxygen metabolism
quantification, where PAM is used for blood oxygenation measurement, while Doppler OCT or Doppler
ultrasound quantifies blood flow [136, 137]. Further, by integrating fine spatial and temporal scales,
single-cell PA flow oxigraphy, a new implementation of OR-PAM, is capable of imaging oxygen release
from single red blood cells (RBCs) in vivo [138].
Although glucose has been explored as an endogenous contrast agent for PAT measurement of blood
sugar levels, the detection sensitivity is still insufficient for clinical diagnosis [139]. Recently, two glucose
analogs, 2-NBDG and IRDye-800-DG, have been used to noninvasively quantify glucose metabolism in
mice. Similar to the FDG used in PET, 2-NBDG and IRDye-800-DG are transported into cells but
cannot be further metabolized. Therefore, the distribution of the trapped glucose analogs reflects the
glucose uptake and thus the local glucose metabolism. PACT with 2-NBDG and IRDye-800-2DG was
used to study mouse brain metabolism and tumor hypermetabolism, respectively [132].
In addition to the above major functional and metabolic parameters, PAT can also measure a
number of other tissue properties. Although some of these parameters can be obtained by fluorescence
imaging as well, PAT can achieve deeper penetration at high spatial resolution than its fluorescence
counterpart. PAT can also measure the temperature distribution in thermotherapy by using the
temperature dependence of the Grueneisen parameter in deep tissue [55, 132] or in single cells [140].
PAT is capable of measuring overtone vibrational absorption in the near-infrared spectral region, which
can reveal the tissue composition, such as lipids [141]. Similarly, PAT can be combined with stimulated
Raman excitation for enhanced chemical specificity [142]. In addition, PAT has been used for imaging
Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET), the efficiency of which reflects intra- and inter-molecular
distances in the 1 to 10 nm range [143, 144]. PAT can measure the nonradiative absorption relaxation
time of molecules by fitting the saturation curve of the signal amplitude as a function of incident laser
intensity [145, 146]. Two other material parameters, dichroism [147] and magnetomotion [8, 148], can
be used by PAT to enhance imaging specificity. In addition to absorber properties, PAT can also
measure the microenvironments properties, including pH and partial oxygen pressure (pO2 ), by using
appropriate contrast agents [149152].

4.4. Molecular PAT

Endogenous PA contrasts, such as hemoglobin in red blood cells, melanin in melanoma cells, DNA/RNA
in cell nuclei, water in brain edema, and lipids in myelin, are abundant and nontoxic. However, they may
lack the requisite specificity for diagnosing disease or tracking biological processes. By using exogenous
contrasts, molecular PAT enables visualizing specific cellular functions and molecular processes. In
recent years, great efforts have been devoted to enhance the molecular imaging capability of PAT,
and considerable progress has been made in optimizing both the PAT imaging systems for better
detection sensitivity, and the contrast agents for better contrast enhancement [153155]. PAT has proven
capable of high sensitivity molecular imaging by using various exogenous contrast agents, including
microbubbles, organic dyes, nanoparticles, fluorescent proteins, and reporter gene products [156]. For
example, one of the very first demonstrations of molecular PAT was to use IRDye800-c(KRGDf) to target
overexpressed integrin v 3 in brain glioblastoma (Figure 9(a)) [23]. Because of their dramatically
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 147, 2014 13

IRDye800-c(KRGDf) MPR

Tumor
Tumor

1 mm 1 mm

(a) (b)

Figure 9. Photoacoustic molecular imaging. (a) PACT of a glioblastoma in a mouse brain enhanced
by IRDye800-c(KRGDf), which targeted over-expressed integrin v 3 in tumor cells. (b) PAT of
a glioblastoma in a mouse brain enhanced by tri-modality MRI-PA-Raman (MPR) nanoparticles.
Reproduced with permission from [23, 158].

different optical absorbing properties, the reported PA detection sensitivity for exogenous contrast
agents varies from millimolar to picomolar [85, 157].
Compared with organic dyes, nanoparticles can be easily engineered for PA molecular imaging by
tuning their size, shape, and composition for the optimum peak absorption wavelength [155]. Numerous
nanoparticles have been used for PA molecular imaging, especially in cancer detection [159] and sentinel
lymph node mapping [157]. For example, Kircher et al. have recently developed a brain tumor molecular
imaging method using triple-modality MRI-photoacoustic-Raman nanoparticles (Figure 9(b)) [158]. A
high detection sensitivity of 50 pM was achieved with an incident laser energy of only 8 mJ/cm2 .
PAT of reporter gene products has also attracted more and more attention. A significant advantage
of reporter gene products is that they are expressed in living cells and do not need complex exogenous
delivery. So far, various fluorescent genetically encoded proteins have been explored for PA molecular
imaging, such as mCherry, EGFP, iRFP, and RFP [12, 160162]. Nonfluorescent gene products can
also be imaged by PAT. For example, given the strong optical absorption of melanin, tyrosinase
genes were transferred to non-melanogenic cells to encode eumelanin as the contrast agent for PA
imaging [52, 54, 163, 164].

5. CONCLUSION

Over the last decade, the PAT technique has been evolving rapidly toward higher spatial resolution,
higher frame rates, and higher detection sensitivity. The applications of PAT have also expanded greatly
in fundamental life sciences, and many clinical applications have been proposed. The accelerating
progress in PAT has also triggered growing contributions from biology, chemistry, and nanotechnology.
With the commercialization of several PAT systems, we expect that PAT will become a mainstream
imaging modality in the lab and clinic.
While exciting images have been acquired, PAT still faces limitations. For instance, the light
attenuation limits the ultimate imaging depth. Currently, the maximum demonstrated PAT imaging
depth is 8.4 cm in chicken breast tissue [39]. To address this limitation, novel light illumination schemes
have been explored. For instance, by illuminating the object from both sides [41, 78], the imaging region
can be doubled and potentially reach 16.4 cm. Internal light delivery has also been proposed to image
organs far beneath the skin [165]. In terms of imaging speed, both PACT and PAM are currently
limited by the pulse repetition rate of lasers. With advances in laser technology, we expect the PAT
imaging speed to be improved accordingly. Quantitative PA imaging also faces challenges because of the
difficulty in measuring local fluence distribution. Advanced spectral separation algorithms have been
14 Xia, Yao, and Wang

proposed to address this issue [116, 117, 166]. Novel contrast agents have also been explored to improve
the specificity of deep-tissue molecular photoacoustic imaging [8, 10].
Nevertheless, exciting PAT images have already been reported, and addressing the aforementioned
challenges will only further improve the capability of PAT. With its unique combination of optical
absorption contrast and ultrasonic imaging depth and resolution scalability [9], PAT is expected to find
more high-impact applications in both biomedical research and clinical practice.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors appreciate Prof. James Ballards help with editing the manuscript. This work was sponsored
by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants DP1 EB016986 (NIH Directors Pioneer Award),
R01 CA186567 (NIH Directors Transformative Research Award), R01 EB016963, R01 CA157277, and
R01 CA159959. L.V.W. has a financial interest in Microphotoacoustics, Inc. and Endra, Inc., which,
however, did not support this work.

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