Photoacoustic imaging in cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment guidance

Abstract

Imaging modalities play an important role in the clinical management of cancer, including screening, diagnosis, treatment planning, and therapy monitoring. Owing to increased research efforts in the past two decades, photoacoustic imaging -a non-ionizing, non-invasive technique capable of visualizing optical absorption properties of tissue at reasonable depth, with spatial resolution of ultrasound -has emerged. Ultrasound-guided photoacoustics is regarded for its ability to provide in vivo morphological and functional information about the tumor within the surrounding tissue. With the recent advent of targeted contrast agents, photoacoustics is capable of in vivo molecular imaging, thus facilitating further molecular and cellular characterization of cancer. This review examines the role of photoacoustics and photoacoustic-augmented imaging techniques in comprehensive cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment guidance.

RETRACTED: Nanoparticle-Assisted Ultrasound for Cancer Therapy

“…Gold NPs have been tested as drug carriers, [6] and radio-sensitizers. [7] The gold NPs can simultaneously be used to visualize their location inside the body using photoacoustic imaging, [8] or optical coherence tomography, [9] in combination with X-ray imaging, [10] or electron microscopy. [11] The advantage of biocompatible gold and magnetic NPs is their low toxicity and ability to be used as contrast agents for various diagnostic methods of visualizing the tumor tissues.…”

Cellulose Nanocrystals as Advanced "Green" Materials for Biological and Biomedical Engineering

“…These ultrasound waves are detected by transducer converting the mechanical acoustic waves into electric signals. The captured electric signals are then processed to form an image (Mallidi et al, 2011). Thermoacoustic imaging is another emerging modality.…”

Plasmonic Nanoparticles with Quantitatively Controlled Bioconjugation for Photoacoustic Imaging of Live Cancer Cells

“…Photoacoustic imaging (PAI), which is based on the conversion of light into sound, is an emerging, hybrid, and noninvasive biomedical imaging modality, and has been extensively explored for its applications in cancer detection and imaging 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. PAI has the advantages of high optical contrast and good ultrasound penetration, and can provide multidimensional tumor data, including structural, functional, metabolic, and molecular information 7. To date, most work has been focused on solid tumor detection at the macroscopic level 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.…”

“…PAI has the advantages of high optical contrast and good ultrasound penetration, and can provide multidimensional tumor data, including structural, functional, metabolic, and molecular information 7. To date, most work has been focused on solid tumor detection at the macroscopic level 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. However, solid tumor usually evolves from a single cell 17.…”

“…AuNPs have already been used in PAI to image and diagnose a variety of cancers,7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 such as melanoma,9 squamous cell carcinoma,10 prostate cancer,11 colon carcinoma,12 breast cancer,13 and circulating tumor cells 14, 15, 16. Several parameters, such as size, shape, and surface chemistry, are critical for their photoacoustic applications 34.…”