Photoacoustic Imaging for Human Brain Diseases

Brain diseases need advanced detection methods to diagnosis abnormalities. Advanced imaging techniques have been developed and applied in different stages for several requirements related to anatomical, functional, and metabolic imaging for the human brain. Among them, photoacoustic imaging has the advantages of high resolution and deep penetration with rich optical contrast, which plays an important role in brain imaging. The characteristic of photoacoustic imaging brings the opportunity for different objects with multi-scale observation in the human brain. In this chapter, the authors introduce the principle and theory of photoacoustic imaging, review the modality of the present photoacoustic imaging systems and applications for brain diseases, and summarize the trends of this imaging technique.