It has previously been shown that photoacoustic imaging can interrogate lifetimes of exogenous agents by a sequence of pulses with varying pump-probe delay intervals. Rather than attempt to unmix molecules based on their composite lifetime profile, we introduce a technique called lifetime weighted imaging, which preferentially weights signals from chromophores with long lifetimes (including exogenous contrast agents such as methylene blue and porphyrins with microsecond-scale lifetimes) while nulling chromophores with short lifetimes (including hemoglobin with ps-ns-scale lifetimes). A probe beam is used to interrogate samples with or without a pump beam. By subtracting probe-beam photoacoustic signals with pump- from those without a pump excitation, we effectively eliminate probe signals from chromophores with short lifetimes while preserving excited-state photoacoustic signals from long-lifetimes. This differential signal will be weighted by a decaying exponential function of the pump-probe delay divided by the exogenous agent lifetime. This technique enabled the imaging of both triplet excited state lifetime and ground-state recovery lifetime. We demonstrate the oxygen-dependent lifetime of both methylene blue and porphyrins. Lifetimeweighted imaging could be used for photodynamic therapy dosimetry guidance, oxygen sensing, or other molecular imaging applications.

Date Published: 11 March 2015
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9323, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2015, 93231H (11 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2079815

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9323:
Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2015
Alexander A. Oraevsky; Lihong V. Wang, Editor(s)