The application of photoacoustic tomography in joint tissues

This paper mainly presents experimental studies in imaging of the joints in vitro and in vivo using our special photoacoustic tomography system. In this pilot study, a chicken claw joint in vitro and a Distal Interphalangeal (DIP) joint from a volunteer were imaged, and a delay-and-sum algorithm was used to reconstruct the two-Dimensional (2D) photoacoustic images. Good reconstructed images have been achieved. In the future, photoacoustic tomography, which combines the merits of pure optical imaging and pure ultrasound imaging, has potential to provide an effective approach of studying the architectures, physiological and pathological properties and metabolisms of joint tissues.