Sparsity-based acoustic inversion in cross-sectional multiscale optoacoustic imaging

Med Phys. 2015 Sep;42(9):5444-52. doi: 10.1118/1.4928596.

Abstract

Purpose: With recent advancement in hardware of optoacoustic imaging systems, highly detailed cross-sectional images may be acquired at a single laser shot, thus eliminating motion artifacts. Nonetheless, other sources of artifacts remain due to signal distortion or out-of-plane signals. The purpose of image reconstruction algorithms is to obtain the most accurate images from noisy, distorted projection data.

Methods: In this paper, the authors use the model-based approach for acoustic inversion, combined with a sparsity-based inversion procedure. Specifically, a cost function is used that includes the L1 norm of the image in sparse representation and a total variation (TV) term. The optimization problem is solved by a numerically efficient implementation of a nonlinear gradient descent algorithm. TV-L1 model-based inversion is tested in the cross section geometry for numerically generated data as well as for in vivo experimental data from an adult mouse.

Results: In all cases, model-based TV-L1 inversion showed a better performance over the conventional Tikhonov regularization, TV inversion, and L1 inversion. In the numerical examples, the images reconstructed with TV-L1 inversion were quantitatively more similar to the originating images. In the experimental examples, TV-L1 inversion yielded sharper images and weaker streak artifact.

Conclusions: The results herein show that TV-L1 inversion is capable of improving the quality of highly detailed, multiscale optoacoustic images obtained in vivo using cross-sectional imaging systems. As a result of its high fidelity, model-based TV-L1 inversion may be considered as the new standard for image reconstruction in cross-sectional imaging.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acoustics*
  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Mice
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Photoacoustic Techniques*
  • Time Factors