Sensors, Vol. 20, Pages 3714: In Vivo Dual-Modal Photoacoustic and Ultrasound Imaging of Sentinel Lymph Nodes Using a Solid-State Dye Laser System

Sensors, Vol. 20, Pages 3714: In Vivo Dual-Modal Photoacoustic and Ultrasound Imaging of Sentinel Lymph Nodes Using a Solid-State Dye Laser System Sensors doi: 10.3390/s20133714 Authors: Moongyu Han Wonseok Choi Joongho Ahn Hanyoung Ryu Youngseok Seo Chulhong Kim Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is being actively investigated as a non-invasive and non-radioactive imaging technique for sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. By taking advantage of optical and ultrasound imaging, PAI probes SLNs non-invasively with methylene blue (MB) in both live animals and breast cancer patients. However, these PAI systems have limitations for widespread use in clinics and commercial marketplaces because the lasers used by the PAI systems, e.g., tunable liquid dye laser systems and optical parametric oscillator (OPO) lasers, are bulky in size, not economical, and use risky flammable and toxic liquid dyes. To overcome these limitations, we are proposing a novel dual-modal photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging system based on a solid-state dye laser (SD-PAUSI), which is compact, convenient, and carries far less risk of flammability and toxicity. Using a solid-state dye handpiece that generates 650-nm wavelength, we successfully imaged the MB tube positioned deeply (~3.9 cm) in chicken breast tissue. The SLNs were also photoacoustically detected in the in vivo rats beneath a 2.2-cm-thick layer of chicken breast, which is deeper than the typical depth of SLNs in humans (1.2 &plusmn...
Source: Sensors - Category: Biotechnology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research