A Cost-effective Functional Connectivity Photoacoustic Tomography (fcPAT) of the Mouse Brain

摘要

The study of functional connectivity among different regions of the brain is tremendously valuable in the diagnosis and monitoring of various neurological disorders. While the conventional techniques fail to provide optimum results in terms of resolution, field of view and efficiency, Photo-acoustic based imaging is being considered as an alternative and complimentary modality. The cost and size are the factors that limit the further research and clinical advancements of fcPAT. Therefore we proposed an inexpensive fcPAT system. We determined its feasibility by imaging a graphite leads embedded in an agar phantom and demonstrated its application by imaging a microtubes filled with blood embedded in the chicken's breast at a scan time of 50 seconds and number of angles as 300 .