Dataset Information

Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging in Vivo with Transient Laser-Activated Nanodroplets.

ABSTRACT: We have developed a method for super-resolution ultrasound imaging, which relies on a new class of blinking nanometer-size contrast agents: laser-activated nanodroplets (LANDs). The LANDs can be repeatedly optically triggered to undergo vaporization; the resulting spatially stationary, temporally transient microbubbles provide high ultrasound contrast for several to hundreds of milliseconds before recondensing to their native liquid nanodroplet state. By capturing high frame rate ultrasound images of blinking LANDs, we demonstrate the ability to detect individual recondensation events. Then we apply a newly developed super-resolution image processing algorithm to localize the LAND positions in vivo almost an order of magnitude better than conventional ultrasound imaging. These results pave the way for high resolution molecular imaging deep in tissue.

SUBMITTER: Luke GP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4962603 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging in Vivo with Transient Laser-Activated Nanodroplets.

Luke Geoffrey P GP Hannah Alexander S AS Emelianov Stanislav Y SY

Nano letters 20160405 4

We have developed a method for super-resolution ultrasound imaging, which relies on a new class of blinking nanometer-size contrast agents: laser-activated nanodroplets (LANDs). The LANDs can be repeatedly optically triggered to undergo vaporization; the resulting spatially stationary, temporally transient microbubbles provide high ultrasound contrast for several to hundreds of milliseconds before recondensing to their native liquid nanodroplet state. By capturing high frame rate ultrasound imag ...[more]

PMID: 27035761

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Project description:PurposeThis study introduces a real-time contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method with recently developed laser-activated nanodroplets (LANDs), a new class of phase-change nanometer-scale contrast agents that provides perceptible, sustained high-contrast with ultrasound.MethodsIn response to pulsed laser irradiation, the LANDs-, which contain liquid perfluorohexane and optical fuses-blink (vaporize and recondense). That is, they change their state from liquid nanodroplets to gas microbubbles, and then back to liquid nanodroplets. In their gaseous microbubble state, the LANDs provide high-contrast ultrasound, but the microbubbles formed in situ typically recondense in tens of milliseconds. As a result, LAND visualization by standard, real-time ultrasound is limited. However, the periodic optical triggering of LANDs allows us to observe corresponding transient, periodic changes in ultrasound contrast. This study formulates a probability function that measures how ultrasound temporal signals vary in periodicity. Then, the estimated probability is mapped onto a B-scan image to construct a LAND-localized, contrast-enhanced image. We verified our method through phantom and in vivo experiments using an ultrasound system (Vevo 2100, FUJIFILM VisualSonics, Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada) operating with a 40-MHz linear array and interfaced with a 10 Hz Nd:YAG laser (Phocus, Opotek Inc., Carlsbad, CA, USA) operating at the fundamental 1064 nm wavelength.ResultsFrom the phantom study, the results showed improvements in the contrast-to-noise ratio of our approach over conventional ultrasound ranging from 129% to 267%, with corresponding execution times of 0.10 to 0.29 s, meaning that the developed method is computationally efficient while yielding high-contrast ultrasound. Furthermore, in vivo sentinel lymph node (SLN) imaging results demonstrated that our technique could accurately identify the SLN.ConclusionsThe results indicate that our approach enables efficient and robust LAND localization in real time with substantially improved contrast, which is essential for the successful translation of this contrast agent platform to clinical settings.

Dataset Information

Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging in Vivo with Transient Laser-Activated Nanodroplets.

Publications

Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging in Vivo with Transient Laser-Activated Nanodroplets.

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