A Flexible Array Transducer for Photoacoustic-Guided Surgery

Photoacoustic imaging has recently demonstrated strong viability for surgical guidance, enabling visualization of tool tips during surgery. To receive the photoacoustic signal, most conventional transducers are rigid, while a flexible array is able to deform and provide complete contact on surfaces with different geometries. In this work, we present the first known photoacoustic images acquired with a flexible array transducer in multiple concave shapes targeted toward interventional photoacoustic applications. We provide target depth measurements and quantitative characterization of image quality. The target depth agreement with ground truth ranged 97.28 – 99.24%. The lateral and axial target sizes of a 1 mm diameter target were 1.31 ± 0.12 mm and 1.70 ± 0.11 mm, respectively. The mean ± one standard deviation of target contrast and signal-to-noise ratios were 19.05 ± 1.47 dB and 61.49 ± 1.47 dB, respectively. Results establish the feasibility of implementing photoacoustic-guided surgery with a flexible array transducer.