Photoacoustic imaging: from bench to bedside

Photoacoustic Imaging (PAI) is an emerging imaging modality with great potential for preclinical research and clinical practice. Uniquely combining optical excitation and acoustic detection, PAI provides a rich contrast mechanism from either endogenous or exogenous chromophores with high spatial resolutions in both optical ballistic and diffusive regimes. This manuscript focuses on the efforts to translate PAI from the bench to the bedside by increasing the imaging depth and speed, providing clinically useful information (i.e., imaging contrast), reducing the device size, and improving the system’s reliability. Assisted by advanced laser systems, ultrasonic arrays, and data acquisition circuits, modern PAI can reveal hematogenous anatomy and functions at high spatiotemporal resolution in small animals and human organs. As a rapidly evolving imaging technology, PAI promises multiple preclinical and clinical applications, attracting growing interest in oncology, dermatology, pediatrics, neuroscience, and orthopedics, among other areas of study.