Dual Imaging Method Holds Promise as a Tool for Cancer Diagnostics

Since Bell Labs first described the photoacoustic effect — the conversion of light to sound — in the late 1800s, researchers have explored the principle for medical imaging purposes. Over the past decade, advancements in lasers, ultrasound transducers, and tomographic reconstruction techniques have prompted immense growth in photoacoustic imaging, a hybrid imaging technology that uses a short-pulse laser to excite tissue.