Advances in the field of medical imaging have opened the doors for a very effective and efficient diagnosis, and cure of cancer. Several imaging modalities are currently being employed in the detection of various kinds of tumours and growths found in the human body and optical imaging has gained a very prominent position in this area. Photoacoustic imaging is a recently emerged hybrid optical imaging modality that gives high resolution images of deep lying tissues. Photoacoustic imaging combines the advantages of high optical contrast of optical imaging and high resolution of ultrasound imaging. Molecular, functional and structural characteristics of the tissues can be mapped using this technique. This report deals with the development of a toacoustic system for the generation and detection of photoacoustic signals from colon phantom tissue. Several simulations and experiments were performed in order to realise this. Simulations were performed by considering the optical properties of real colon tissue and experiments were performed on phantom colon tissue. From the experiments performed, it was possible to study the number of layers within the sample and was also able to detect the presence of a 1 mm growth simulated between the layers of the tissue. The detected signals can be further considered for performing photoacoustic spectroscopy and photoacoustic tomography.

Master of Science (Biomedical Engineering)

84 p.