Influence of epidermal melanin content on photoacoustic imaging

• Grant number: 22/01420-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: June 30, 2022
• End date: June 29, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Biomedical Engineering - Medical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Theo Zeferino Pavan
• Grantee: Guilherme Santos Pilotto Fernandes
• Supervisor: Muyinatu Bell
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/14482-8 - Artifacts reduction on dual mode ultrasound/photoacoustic images, BP.DD

Abstract

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is a rapidly growing modality with excellent contrast, spatial and temporal resolution, good imaging penetration depth, and capable of obtaining functional and quantitative information from the imaged tissue. Several clinical applications were demonstrated using PAI, revealing the important contribution to this technique for medical images. However, there are still some challenges to be overcome to improve PA image quality, including the reduction of clutter artifact. In PAI, waves scattered by multiple acoustic scatterers within tissue, and the photoacoustic signal generated by the melanin in the epidermis are strong sources of clutter. Therefore, it is important to understand how the variation in epidermal melanin content impacts on PAI clutter generation. To that goal, multidomain simulations (optical and acoustical) and phantom experiments will be performed, by varying the epidermal melanin content, to better understand the sources of clutter artifact and, therefore, to create strategies to improve PA image quality. (AU)