Concurrent Optical Ultrasound and CT Imaging

Optical ultrasound imaging is an emerging paradigm that utilises fiber-optic ultrasound sources and detectors to perform pulse-echo imaging. Using rapid-prototyping techniques, flexible fiber-optic free-hand probes, capable of video-rate imaging can be constructed entirely from glass and plastic. As such, these devices are expected to be inherently compatible with electromagnetic imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography imaging. However, to date, this multimodal capability has not been demonstrated. In this work, a new free-hand optical ultrasound (OpUS) imaging system is introduced, its real-time imaging capability demonstrated on a range of phantoms, and the first concurrent use of OpUS alongside cone-beam CT (CBCT) imaging is presented.