Innovation Spotlight
A Photoacoustic Needle Imaging Probe for In Vivo Biopsy
The diagnosis of many diseases, including prostate cancer, relies on needle core biopsy. A deep-penetrating imaging device as small as a needle will cover a volume substantially larger than that of a biopsy core. This will minimize the chance of missing a tumor and improve diagnostic reliability.
- Guan (Gary) Xu’s lab has been investigating an imaging needle that emits light (photo-) and receives light-generated ultrasound signals (-acoustic) in its adjacent tissue volume since 2022.
- An array of optical microring resonators as sensitive ultrasound detectors that L. Jay Guo's lab has developed over the past two decades made it possible to integrate the photoacoustic imaging components into a needle.
Collaboration between the two labs brings such an imaging device into reality. The groups will test the prototype device on human tissue samples very soon and eventually on human subjects.
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