3D photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging of chicken embryo vasculature using a sparse array (Conference Presentation)

We investigate the use of a 256-channel spherically focused sparse array for volumic real-time ultrasound (US) and photoacoustic (PA) imaging of chicken embryo in vivo. Reconstructions were performed offline and signal processing techniques exploiting spatial and temporal dynamics of the blood flow were applied to visualize the vasculature. The resulting reduction of the clutter enhances the contrast by up to a factor of 2, providing an enhanced visualization of vascular networks. This methodology has a potential for in vivo 3D real time visualization of the vasculature and other features using complementary information provided by US and PA imaging.