Abstract
In this paper, we report an ultrafast co-registered ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging system based on FPGA parallel processing. The system features 128-channel parallel acquisition and digitization, along with FPGA-based reconfigurable processing for real-time co-registered imaging of up to 15 frames per second that is only limited by the laser pulse repetition frequency of 15 Hz. We demonstrated the imaging capability of the system by live imaging of a mouse tumor model in vivo, and imaging of human ovaries ex vivo. A compact transvaginal probe that includes the PAT illumination using a fiber-optic assembly was used for this purpose. The system has the potential ability to assist a clinician to perform transvaginal ultrasound scanning and to localize the ovarian mass, while simultaneously mapping the light absorption of the ultrasound detected mass to reveal its vasculature using the co-registered PAT.