Optoacoustic endoscopy with optical and acoustic resolution

A hybrid optical and acoustic resolution optoacoustic endoscopy is proposed. Laser light is transmitted to tissue by two types of illumination for optical and acoustic resolution imaging respectively. An unfocused ultrasound detector is used for recording optoacoustic signals. The endoscopy probe attains 3.6 mm diameter and is fully encapsulated into a catheter system. We examine the performance of the hybrid endoscope with phantoms and tissue sample, which shows that the hybrid endoscopy can obtain optical resolution in superficial microscopic imaging and ultrasonic tomography reconstruction resolution when imaging at greater depths.