Scanning photoacoustic mammography with a focused transducer featuring extended focal zone

A focused transducer, featuring extended focal zone, is employed for scanning photoacoustic mammography. Using the transducer with extended focal zone, a large tissue sample can be imaged conveniently. Phantom experiments demonstrate that the location, size and optical energy deposition of absorbers can be imaged correctly. The depth and lateral resolution of image is 0.3 mm and 2 mm, respectively. And the transducer can be applied in conventional ultrasonic technology to achieve multimode diagnosis as well. Preliminary study shows that this method could be potential in early diagnosis of breast cancer.