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Photoacoustic imaging offers significant potential as a biomedical imaging modality. For some applications, however, there is a need for contrast enhancement. In this paper, a theoretical comparison is presented of the efficacy of three different designs for photoacoustic contrast agents (PACAs), specifically, a droplet of dye, a bubble filled with gas coated by a dye loaded shell, and a droplet of volatile dye. For each case, the governing equations describing the dynamics of a single PACA in a homogenous incompressible fluid are derived. The coupled sets of equations describing the bubble oscillation and resulting radiated pressure, the photo-acoustic energy equation, and the equation of state are then solved numerically. The numerical results predict a stronger radiated acoustic signal for the same optical source energy density in the case of the volatile dye droplet by a factor of up to two orders of magnitude compared with the other two types of agent.

Original publication

DOI

10.1121/1.4802939

Type

Journal article

Journal

J acoust soc am

Publication Date

06/2013

Volume

133

Pages

3853 - 3862

Keywords

Coloring Agents, Contrast Media, Diagnostic Imaging, Humans, Hydrodynamics, Image Enhancement, Microbubbles, Models, Theoretical, Neoplasms, Photoacoustic Techniques