ABSTRACT
Thermoacoustic imaging (TAI) is a new non-invasive, non-ionization and nondestructive modality capable of high microwave contrast and high ultrasound resolution, and it has attracted extensive attention in recent years. This review introduces the technical principle, imaging system and imaging characteristics of TAI, and then introduces the application of TAI for breast cancer detection as an example. This review introduces the advantages of TAI in solving corresponding clinical problems in view of its high resolution and high contrast. In addition, it also explains the roles of TAI in medical diagnosis and treatment. Finally, the potential applications of TAI in medical diagnosis is introduced from many aspects and multiple perspectives. The future development of TAI in the challenges of current medical diagnosis is also prospected.
Subject(s)
Humans , Acoustics , Breast Neoplasms , Diagnostic Imaging , Diagnostic Imaging , Methods , MicrowavesABSTRACT
Objective To increase the speed of thermoacoustic imaging, a deconvolution reconstruction (DR) algorithm is proposed for small-scale need detecting living beings, on the basis of deconvolution of thermoacustic imaging algorithm. Methods A new function was firstly constructed from the detected acoustic pressure function. Then, the distribution of electromagnetic wave absorption coefficient of the need detecting living beings could be reconstructed from this new function based on the deconvolution method. Computer simulation studies were carried out to compare the DR algorithm with the two popular algorithms: the time-domain reconstruction (TDR) and the filtered back projection (FBP). Results For small-scale need detecting living beings, the accuracy of DR was nearly equivalent to TDR and slightly better than FBP. However, DR was about 4 to 6 times faster than TDR and about 25 to 100 times faster than FBP under the simulation experiment condition. Conclusion DR is a fast and effective algorithm of thermoacoustic imaging for small-scale living beings.