Fiber-optic hydrophone for detection of high-intensity ultrasound waves.

Fiber-optic hydrophones (FOHs) are widely used to detect high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) fields. The most common type consists of an uncoated single-mode fiber with a perpendicularly cleaved end face. The main disadvantage of these hydrophones is their low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

Bend-insensitive fiber optic ultrasonic tracking probe for cardiovascular interventions.

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is widely used to guide medical device placement in minimally invasive cardiovascular procedures. However, visualization of the device tip with TEE can be challenging. Ultrasonic tracking, enabled by an integrated fiber optic ultrasound sensor (FOUS) that receives transmissions from the TEE probe, is very well suited to improving device localization in this context.

Ultrasonic Needle Tracking with Dynamic Electronic Focusing.

Accurate identification of the needle tip is a key challenge with ultrasound-guided percutaneous interventions in regional anaesthesia, foetal surgery and cardiovascular medicine. In this study, we developed an ultrasonic needle tracking system in which the measured needle tip location was used to set the electronic focus of the external ultrasound imaging probe. In this system, needle tip tracking was enabled with a fibre-optic ultrasound sensor that was integrated into a needle stylet, and the A-lines recorded by the sensor were processed to generate tracking images of the needle tip.

CuInS Quantum Dot and Polydimethylsiloxane Nanocomposites for All-Optical Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Imaging.

Dual-modality imaging employing complementary modalities, such as all-optical ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging, is emerging as a well-suited technique for guiding minimally invasive surgical procedures. Quantum dots are a promising material for use in these dual-modality imaging devices as they can provide wavelength-selective optical absorption. The first quantum dot nanocomposite engineered for co-registered laser-generated ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging is presented.

All-optical dual photoacoustic and optical coherence tomography intravascular probe.

Intravascular imaging in percutaneous coronary interventions can be an invaluable tool in the treatment of coronary artery disease. It is of significant interest to provide molecular imaging contrast that is complementary to structural contrast provided by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intravascular ultrasound imaging (IVUS). In this study, we developed a dual-modality intravascular imaging probe comprising a commercial OCT catheter and a high sensitivity fiber optic ultrasound sensor, to provide both photoacoustic (PA) and OCT imaging.