Practical photoacoustic tomography: Realistic limitations and technical solutions

Abstract

This article offers a perspective on photoacoustic tomography (PAT) under realistic scenarios. While PAT has gained much attention in preclinical and clinical research, most early works used image reconstruction techniques based on ideal assumptions, and thus these techniques may not be fully effective in real environments. In this work, we consider such non-ideal conditions as a limited view, limited bandwidth, lossy medium, or heterogeneous medium. More importantly, we use k-Wave simulation to numerically evaluate the effects of these limiting factors on various image reconstruction algorithms. Then, to enable more reliable PAT image reconstruction, we introduce recent techniques for mitigating each of the limiting conditions. We seek to emphasize the importance of working within these realistic limitations, and we encourage researchers to develop compensating solutions that advance PAT’s translation to real clinical environments.