System and method for acquiring optoacoustic data and producing parametric maps thereof

1. A method comprising:

generating a first sinogram from a first optoacoustic response signal received from a tissue, the first optoacoustic response signal generated by a pulse of light having a first predominant wavelength;

generating a second sinogram from a second optoacoustic response signal received from the tissue, the second optoacoustic response signal generated by a pulse of light having a second predominant wavelength;

processing the first and second sinograms to create first and second processed sinograms, respectively, the processing comprising performing at least one of a first plurality of functions;

performing image reconstruction based upon the first and second processed sinograms to generate first and second optoacoustic images, respectively, the image reconstruction comprising performing at least one of a second plurality of functions;

performing image post-processing on the first and second optoacoustic images to generate first and second envelope images, respectively, the image post-processing comprising performing at least one of a third plurality of functions; and

generating a first parametric map based upon the information contained in the first and second envelope images.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of functions comprises: i) mitigating anomalous channels; ii) mitigating common mode stripes; iii) bandpass filtering, mitigating a system transfer function; iv) normalizing a dynamic range; v) normalizing energy; vi) removing interframe persistent artifacts; vii) compensating for hardware time gain compensation; viii) performing sub-band acoustic compensation; and ix) applying a transform operator.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second plurality of functions comprises: i) extracting quadrature; ii) sub-band acoustic compensation; and iii) reconstruction.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the third plurality of functions comprises: i) removing interframe persistent artifact; ii) fluence compensation; and iii) complex magnitude.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating at least one parametric map comprises:

determining motion and tracking to produce at least two aligned envelope images; and

performing parametric calculations on the at least two aligned envelope images to produce the first parametric map.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

performing additional parametric calculations on the at least two aligned envelope images to produce a second parametric map.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

generating a third parametric map based on information in the first and second parametric maps.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving an ultrasound image from the tissue;

coregistering the ultrasound image with at least one of the first, second, and third parametric maps to produce a coregistered image; and

displaying the coregistered image on a screen of an optoacoustic imaging system.

9. A method comprising:

generating a first multichannel sinogram from a first optoacoustic response signal received from a tissue, the first optoacoustic response signal generated by a pulse of light having a first predominant wavelength;

generating a second multichannel sinogram from a second optoacoustic response signal received from the tissue, the second optoacoustic response signal generated by a pulse of light having a second predominant wavelength;

processing the first and second multi-channel sinograms to create first and second processed sinograms, respectively;

performing image reconstruction based upon the first and second processed sinograms to generate first and second optoacoustic images, respectively;

performing image post-processing on the first and second optoacoustic images to generate first and second post-processed images, respectively, the image post-processing comprising fluence compensation; and

generating a first parametric map based upon the information contained in the first and second post-processed images.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the first parametric map comprises:

determining motion and tracking to produce at least two aligned post-processed images; and

performing parametric calculations on the at least two aligned post-processed images to produce the first parametric map.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

performing additional parametric calculations on the at least two aligned post-processed images to produce a second parametric map; and

generating a third parametric map based on information in the first and second parametric maps.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving an ultrasound image from the tissue;

coregistering the ultrasound image with the third parametric map; and

displaying the coregistered image on a screen of an optoacoustic imaging system.

13. A method comprising the steps of;

generating a first multichannel sinogram from a first optoacoustic response signal received from a tissue, the first optoacoustic response signal generated by a pulse of light having a first predominant wavelength;

generating a second multichannel sinogram from a second optoacoustic response signal received from the tissue, the second optoacoustic response signal generated by a pulse of light having a second predominant wavelength;

processing the first and second multi-channel sinograms to create first and second processed sinograms, respectively;

performing image reconstruction based upon the first and second processed sinograms to generate first and second optoacoustic images, respectively;

performing image post-processing on the first and second optoacoustic images to generate first and second post-processed images, respectively, the image post processing comprising fluence compensation; and

generating a first parametric map based upon the information contained in the first and second post-processed images;

wherein the step of generating the first parametric map comprises:

determining motion and tracking to produce first and second aligned post-processed images; and

performing parametric calculations on the first and second aligned post-processed images to produce the first parametric map.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein fluence compensation comprises:

determining a common fluence curve that is a function of parameters comprising a depth parameter and an additional parameter;

determining a value for the additional parameter that influences the common fluence curve;

determining a first wavelength specific fluence curve for the first predominant wavelength, wherein the first wavelength specific fluence curve is a function of parameters comprising the depth parameter and a first wavelength specific parameter;

determining a value for the first wavelength specific parameter that influences the first wavelength specific fluence curve;

applying an overall fluence normalization based on both the common fluence curve and the first wavelength specific fluence curve to the first optoacoustic image to compute a first fluence compensated image;

determining a second wavelength specific fluence curve for the second predominant wavelength, wherein the second wavelength specific fluence curve is a function of parameters comprising the depth parameter and a second wavelength specific parameter;

determining a value for the second wavelength specific parameter; and

applying a second overall fluence normalization based on the common fluence curve and the second wavelength specific fluence curve to the second optoacoustic image to compute a second fluence compensated image.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein fluence compensation further comprises determining a region of interest of the tissue, wherein the region of interest comprises a depth measure used in forming a dependent parameter in at least one of the steps consisting of:

determining the value for the additional parameter;

determining the value for the first wavelength specific parameter; and

determining the value for the second wavelength specific parameter.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein at least one of the common fluence curve, the first wavelength specific fluence curve or the second wavelength specific fluence curve is computed by computing a statistical feature, the value of the statistical feature varies with depth in an image, wherein the selected fluence curve is based on the value of the statistical feature as a function of depth.