CN115040083B - Photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging system and method based on multiple ultrasonic transducers - Google Patents
Photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging system and method based on multiple ultrasonic transducers Download PDFInfo
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- CN115040083B CN115040083B CN202210723234.3A CN202210723234A CN115040083B CN 115040083 B CN115040083 B CN 115040083B CN 202210723234 A CN202210723234 A CN 202210723234A CN 115040083 B CN115040083 B CN 115040083B
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
- A61B5/0093—Detecting, measuring or recording by applying one single type of energy and measuring its conversion into another type of energy
- A61B5/0095—Detecting, measuring or recording by applying one single type of energy and measuring its conversion into another type of energy by applying light and detecting acoustic waves, i.e. photoacoustic measurements
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
- A61B8/44—Constructional features of the ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic diagnostic device
- A61B8/4477—Constructional features of the ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic diagnostic device using several separate ultrasound transducers or probes
Abstract
The invention discloses a photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging system and method based on multiple ultrasonic transducers. The ultrasonic transducer module comprises N ultrasonic transducers with different center frequencies, wherein N is a natural number which is more than or equal to 2, an imaging area is divided into N sub-scanning intervals, each ultrasonic transducer is used for scanning each sub-scanning interval once and only once by combining an energy transducer position adjusting device, signals at the same position are collected once by the ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies, ultrasonic signals in different frequency ranges generated by photoacoustic chromatography and/or ultrasonic imaging can be received rapidly in a larger range, and multi-scale and high-resolution photoacoustic and ultrasonic images can be obtained after image reconstruction; the same ultrasonic transducers are adopted during scanning imaging, the positions are completely overlapped, and the registration operation is not needed; the photoacoustic tomography mode and the ultrasonic imaging mode can provide information of two modes of photoacoustic and ultrasonic simultaneously, and tissue information complementation is realized.
Description
Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of optical imaging, in particular to a photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging system based on multiple ultrasonic transducers and an imaging method thereof.
Background
The photoacoustic tomography technique uses excitation light to irradiate biological tissues, an absorber in the tissues thermally expands due to the absorption light to generate ultrasonic signals, and the ultrasonic signals are detected by an ultrasonic detector and are reconstructed to obtain a light absorption distribution image of the tissues. Photoacoustic tomography is a new imaging technology, combines the advantages of high contrast and acoustic deep penetrability of optical imaging, and has wide application prospect in the fields of life science and medicine.
The ultrasonic frequency range produced by photoacoustic tomography is directly related to the dimensions of the object to be imaged. The smaller the size of the object to be imaged, the higher the emission frequency, whereas the larger the size, the lower the emission frequency. The reception of ultrasonic signals at wider frequencies facilitates the imaging of objects of various dimensions. However, the existing piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer, whether a single-element ultrasonic transducer or an array ultrasonic transducer, has a narrow receiving frequency range, and the range of the size of an object to be imaged is limited.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the problems in the prior art, the invention provides a photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging system based on multiple ultrasonic transducers and an imaging method thereof.
It is an object of the invention to propose a photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system based on multiple ultrasound transducers.
The photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging system based on the multi-ultrasonic transducer comprises: the system comprises a photoacoustic signal excitation module, an ultrasonic coupler, an ultrasonic transducer module, an ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module, a three-dimensional positioning module and a system control and imaging module; the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module comprises the tail ends of a plurality of bundles of optical fibers; the end face of the ultrasonic transducer module is connected with the ultrasonic coupler; the ultrasonic coupler is contacted with the surface of an object to be imaged through an ultrasonic coupling agent during imaging, so that the end face of the ultrasonic transducer module is directly opposite to the surface of the object to be imaged through the ultrasonic coupler during imaging; the tail ends of a plurality of beams of optical fibers at the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module are symmetrically distributed around the end face of the ultrasonic transducer module, so that output light at the tail ends of the plurality of beams of optical fibers is uniformly irradiated on the surface of an object to be imaged, which is opposite to the ultrasonic transducer, through the ultrasonic coupler during imaging; the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module are respectively arranged on the three-dimensional positioning module; the ultrasonic transducer module is respectively connected to the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module and the system control and imaging module; the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module and the three-dimensional positioning module are respectively connected to the system control and imaging module;
the ultrasonic transducer module comprises N ultrasonic transducers, a transducer position adjusting device and a transducer position adjusting device controller; the end faces of the N ultrasonic transducers are used as the end faces of the ultrasonic transducer modules, the center frequencies of the N ultrasonic transducers are different, and N is a natural number not less than 2; the N ultrasonic transducers are positioned on the transducer position adjusting device, and the transducer position adjusting device is connected to the transducer position adjusting device controller; the transducer position adjusting device controller is connected to the system control and imaging module; the system control and imaging module sends an instruction to the transducer position adjusting device controller to control the transducer position adjusting device; the transducer position adjusting device is used for adjusting the positions of the N ultrasonic transducers; the N ultrasonic transducers are in a focusing mode, the focuses of the N ultrasonic transducers are located on the same plane, namely a scanning plane, and also are detection planes of virtual points of the ultrasonic transducers, the scanning plane is parallel to an xy plane, the N ultrasonic transducers are located on the same straight line, and the straight line where the N ultrasonic transducers are located is parallel to a y axis; the N ultrasonic transducers are respectively connected to the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module;
the sizes of an object to be imaged in the imaging area of the scanning surface along the x direction and the y direction are a and b respectively; adjusting the distance between two adjacent ultrasonic transducers in the N ultrasonic transducers to be b/N through an energy transducer position adjusting device; the imaging area is uniformly divided into N sub-scanning intervals along the y direction;
performing photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging on an object to be imaged; before imaging, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move to an imaging area facing an object to be imaged, and the output end, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module are in contact with the surface of the object to be imaged through an ultrasonic coupling agent; during imaging, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move, so that the N ultrasonic transducers scan an imaging area of an object to be imaged, and simultaneously acquire ultrasonic signals in photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic signals in ultrasonic imaging of the object to be imaged; each ultrasonic transducer corresponds to one sub-scanning interval respectively, the three-dimensional positioning module drives N ultrasonic transducers to scan a line of the imaging area along the x direction, then the ultrasonic transducers move one step towards the y direction and continue to scan a line along the x direction until the last line of the y direction of the sub-scanning interval corresponding to the scanning of each ultrasonic transducer, and therefore the sub-scanning intervals scanned by the N ultrasonic transducers respectively are spliced into a complete imaging area to complete one-time scanning of the imaging area; changing the positions of the N ultrasonic transducers through the transducer position adjusting device, enabling each ultrasonic transducer to respectively correspond to a new sub-scanning interval, and continuously scanning the corresponding sub-scanning interval by each ultrasonic transducer for N times, so that each ultrasonic transducer scans each sub-scanning interval once and only once; the scanning mode ensures that the ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging at each imaging position are collected by the N ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies once under the condition of not increasing the imaging scanning time, so that the ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging with wider frequencies can be collected, and the fast and multi-scale photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic imaging are realized; the N ultrasonic transducers transmit the acquired ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging to the system control and imaging module through the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module; the system control and imaging module reconstructs ultrasonic signals in photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic signals in ultrasonic imaging acquired by the N ultrasonic transducers to obtain photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic images, and performs single-mode or photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic image bimodal fusion display; the same ultrasonic transducer is adopted during photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging, so that the positions are completely overlapped without registration operation.
The ultrasonic signals in photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic signals in ultrasonic imaging acquired by the N ultrasonic transducers are reconstructed, and different ultrasonic transducers multiply a corresponding proportionality coefficient in the reconstruction process, so that the proportion of different frequencies in the whole signals is adjusted.
When photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic image dual-mode are carried out, one imaging mode can be firstly collected at one scanning point and then another imaging mode can be collected, and the scanning collection of the other imaging mode can be carried out after the scanning collection of the one imaging mode is carried out in the whole imaging area.
The photoacoustic tomography is equivalent to a virtual point detection transducer, namely the photoacoustic tomography is used as a point detection transducer to receive ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography when scanning and imaging are carried out on an object to be imaged, and photoacoustic reconstruction is carried out according to the acquired ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography to obtain a high-resolution tomographic image. At the same time, the ultrasound transducer can also emit ultrasound signals for ultrasound imaging. The photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging dual modes can provide information of two modes of photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging at the same time, so that the complementation of tissue information is realized; the center frequencies of the N ultrasonic transducers are different, and the transducers with different frequencies are combined, so that the ultrasonic wave with wider frequency range can be received.
The photoacoustic signal excitation module includes: the device comprises a laser, a spectroscope, a first lens, an optical fiber bundle and a photoelectric detector; the laser is a pulse laser, one end of an optical fiber bundle is a round single-bundle optical fiber serving as an input end, the other end of the optical fiber bundle is divided into a plurality of bundles of optical fibers, each bundle of optical fibers is round or rectangular, and the tail ends of the plurality of bundles of optical fibers serve as the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module; when photoacoustic tomography is performed, a small part of light is split by laser emitted by the laser through the spectroscope and is detected by the photoelectric detector to serve as a synchronous signal, and the synchronous signal is used for triggering and collecting an ultrasonic signal in the photoacoustic tomography by the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module; most of light split by the spectroscope is coupled into a single-beam optical fiber through a first lens, then is output through the tail ends of a plurality of beams of optical fibers, and is irradiated onto an object to be imaged through an ultrasonic coupler to generate an ultrasonic signal in photoacoustic tomography; the N ultrasonic transducers receive ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography, convert the received ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography into electric signals, transmit the electric signals to the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module, convert the electric signals into digital signals and transmit the digital signals to the system control and imaging module; and the system control and imaging module performs photoacoustic reconstruction. Furthermore, the photoacoustic signal excitation module further comprises a second lens, each beam of the tail end of the multiple beams of optical fibers at the output end is connected with one second lens according to the requirement of the irradiation area, and the second lens is positioned above the ultrasonic coupler or in the ultrasonic coupler and used for adjusting the irradiation area of the output end so as to meet the requirement of the irradiation area.
The ultrasonic transducer adopts a focusing mode, and adopts a spherical focusing probe or a focusing lens arranged in front of a plane probe. Further, when photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging is performed on an object to be imaged, the ultrasonic transducer detection is equivalent to a point detection transducer at a focal point to receive an ultrasonic signal in photoacoustic tomography and/or an ultrasonic signal in ultrasonic imaging, which is also called virtual point detection, so that photoacoustic and/or ultrasonic reconstruction can be performed according to signals acquired by the virtual point detection to obtain a high-resolution tomographic image.
The three-dimensional positioning module comprises: a two-dimensional horizontal translation stage, a one-dimensional vertical translation stage and a translation stage controller; the ultrasonic coupling device comprises a two-dimensional horizontal translation table, an ultrasonic coupler, a one-dimensional vertical translation table and a control unit, wherein the two-dimensional horizontal translation table and the ultrasonic coupler are arranged on the one-dimensional vertical translation table; the energy converter position adjusting device of the ultrasonic energy converter module and the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module are arranged on the two-dimensional horizontal translation platform; the two-dimensional horizontal translation stage and the one-dimensional vertical translation stage are respectively connected to the translation stage controller; the translation table controller is connected with the system control and imaging module; the system control and imaging module sends an instruction to the translation stage controller to control the movement of the two-dimensional horizontal translation stage and the one-dimensional vertical translation stage.
The ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module comprises: the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving switching module, the ultrasonic signal transmitting module and the ultrasonic signal receiving module; the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving switching module is respectively connected with the ultrasonic signal sending module and the ultrasonic signal receiving module; the ultrasonic signal sending module and the ultrasonic signal receiving module are respectively connected to the system control and imaging module; the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving switching module is used for controlling the switching of the transmitting and receiving switches of the ultrasonic signals; the ultrasonic signal sending module generates an excitation signal and excites the ultrasonic transducer to send out ultrasonic after receiving an ultrasonic signal instruction sent by the system control and imaging module; the ultrasonic signal receiving module converts the electric signal from the ultrasonic transducer into a digital signal and transmits the digital signal to the system control and imaging module.
When ultrasonic imaging is carried out, the system control and imaging module sends an instruction to the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module, the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving switching module controls the ultrasonic signal sending module to work and generate an excitation signal to the ultrasonic transducer, the ultrasonic transducer sends an ultrasonic signal and transmits the ultrasonic signal to an object to be imaged, the ultrasonic signal sending module is closed after the ultrasonic signal sending module works and generates the excitation signal, and the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving switching module controls the ultrasonic signal receiving module to work; ultrasonic signals reflected from an object to be imaged are received by the N ultrasonic transducers, the received ultrasonic signals are converted into electric signals and transmitted to the ultrasonic signal receiving module, and the electric signals are converted into digital signals by the ultrasonic signal receiving module and then transmitted to the system control and imaging module; the system control and imaging module performs ultrasonic reconstruction.
When photoacoustic tomography is carried out, the system control and imaging module sends an instruction to the photoacoustic signal excitation module to generate excitation light, the excitation light irradiates an object to be imaged to send an ultrasonic signal in the photoacoustic tomography, and the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving switching module controls the ultrasonic signal receiving module to work; ultrasonic signals in photoacoustic tomography sent from an object to be imaged are received by the N ultrasonic transducers, the received ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography are converted into electric signals, and the electric signals are transmitted to the ultrasonic signal receiving module, converted into digital signals and transmitted to the system control and imaging module; and the system control and imaging module performs photoacoustic reconstruction.
The ultrasonic coupler includes: a container, a liquid ultrasonic agent, an acousto-optic transmission window and an acousto-optic transmission film; wherein, a liquid ultrasonic agent is contained in the container; an acousto-optic transmission window is arranged at the bottom of the container, and an acousto-optic transmission film is sealed in the acousto-optic transmission window; the top of the container is not provided with a cover, or the top of the container is also provided with an acousto-optic transmission window, and an acousto-optic transmission film is sealed in the acousto-optic transmission window. In use, the end face of the ultrasonic transducer is in contact with or immersed in the liquid ultrasonic agent in the container.
The system control and imaging module adopts a computer. The computer is connected with the horizontal translation table and the vertical translation table of the three-dimensional positioning module through the translation table controller of the three-dimensional positioning module through electric wires to control the transducer position adjusting device of the ultrasonic transducer module to adjust the position of the ultrasonic transducer, the data transmitted by the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module are received to be reconstructed, processed and displayed, whether the photoacoustic signal exciting module emits laser light or not and the energy and frequency of the laser light are controlled, and the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module is used for controlling the ultrasonic signal transmitting and collecting of the ultrasonic transducer module.
The transducer position adjusting device adopts two structures. The first structure comprises an annular guide rail and N sliding blocks, wherein an ultrasonic transducer is arranged on each sliding block, each sliding block is independently connected with a motor, each sliding block can independently slide for a set distance along the annular guide rail under the driving of the motor, and N is more than or equal to 2; the slider drives the ultrasonic transducer to move, so that the position of the ultrasonic transducer is adjusted. In particular, for N =2, the transducer position adjustment device can also adopt a second configuration, comprising a translation stage and a rotation stage; the first ultrasonic transducer is arranged on the translation table, the translation table drives the first ultrasonic transducer to move so as to adjust the distance between the first ultrasonic transducer and the second ultrasonic transducer, the translation table and the second ultrasonic transducer are arranged on the rotating table, and the position exchange of the first ultrasonic transducer and the second ultrasonic transducer is realized through the rotation of the rotating table by 180 degrees.
Another object of the present invention is to propose a photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging method based on multiple ultrasound transducers.
The invention relates to a photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging method based on multiple ultrasonic transducers, which comprises the following steps:
1) The sizes of an object to be imaged in the imaging area of the scanning surface along the x direction and the y direction are a and b respectively; adjusting the distance between two adjacent ultrasonic transducers in the N ultrasonic transducers to be b/N through an energy transducer position adjusting device;
the imaging area is uniformly divided into N sub-scanning intervals along the y direction, wherein N is a natural number more than or equal to 2;
2) Before photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging is carried out on an object to be imaged, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move to an imaging area facing the object to be imaged, and the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module are in contact with the surface of the object to be imaged through the ultrasonic coupler;
3) When the object to be imaged is subjected to photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move, so that the N ultrasonic transducers scan the imaging area of the object to be imaged and simultaneously acquire ultrasonic signals sent by the object to be imaged; each ultrasonic transducer corresponds to one sub-scanning interval respectively, the three-dimensional positioning module drives N ultrasonic transducers to scan a line of an imaging area along the x direction, then the ultrasonic transducers move one step towards the y direction and continue to scan a line along the x direction until the last line of the y direction of the sub-scanning interval corresponding to the scanning of each ultrasonic transducer, and therefore the sub-scanning intervals scanned by the N ultrasonic transducers are spliced into a complete imaging area to complete one-time scanning of the imaging area;
4) Changing the positions of the N ultrasonic transducers through the transducer position adjusting device, enabling each ultrasonic transducer to respectively correspond to a new sub-scanning interval, continuously scanning the corresponding sub-scanning interval by each ultrasonic transducer, repeating the step 3), and scanning for N times in total, so that each ultrasonic transducer scans each sub-scanning interval once and only once; the scanning mode ensures that the ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging at each imaging position are collected by the N ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies once under the condition of not increasing the imaging scanning time, so that the acoustic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging with wider frequencies can be collected, and the fast and multi-scale photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging can be realized;
5) The N ultrasonic transducers transmit the acquired ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging to the system control and imaging module through the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module; the system control and imaging module reconstructs ultrasonic signals in photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic signals in ultrasonic imaging acquired by the N ultrasonic transducers to obtain photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic images, and performs single-mode or photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic image bimodal fusion display; the same ultrasonic transducer is adopted during photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging, so that the positions are completely overlapped without registration operation.
In the step 3), when performing photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound image dual-mode, one imaging modality can be acquired at one scanning point first and then another imaging modality is acquired, and one imaging modality can be acquired in the whole imaging region and then another imaging modality is acquired.
The invention has the advantages that:
(1) The ultrasonic frequency range generated by photoacoustic tomography is directly related to the size of an object to be imaged; the smaller the size of the object to be imaged is, the higher the emitted frequency is, and conversely, the larger the size is, the lower the emitted frequency is; therefore, the ultrasonic signal receiving with wider frequency is beneficial to the imaging of objects with various dimensions; however, the existing piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers have narrow receiving frequency ranges, and the size range of an imageable object is limited; therefore, the ultrasonic transducer module of the invention is composed of a plurality of transducers with different frequencies, and can receive ultrasonic signals with different frequency ranges generated by photoacoustic tomography in a wider range; in addition, the multiple transducers are all spherical focusing structures, so that virtual point detection scanning of ultrasonic signals can be realized; through the receiving of ultrasonic signals in a wide frequency range and the detection and scanning of virtual points, multi-scale and high-resolution photoacoustic and ultrasonic images can be obtained after image reconstruction;
(2) Because the ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies interfere with each other in physical structures, only one ultrasonic transducer can be arranged at the same position at the same time; if the imaging time is doubled in the sequential scanning; by introducing the transducer position adjusting device and adopting the rapid imaging scanning mode, compared with the situation that a single transducer scans an imaging area with the same size, the invention can collect signals at the same position by the ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies once under the condition of not increasing the imaging time, thereby completing the collection of ultrasonic signals with wider band frequency and realizing rapid and multi-scale imaging;
(3) The system realizes the bimodal imaging of photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging through the switching of the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving switching module of the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module; the same ultrasonic transducers are adopted during scanning imaging, and the positions are completely overlapped, so that the registration operation is not needed; the photoacoustic tomography mode and the ultrasonic imaging mode can provide information of two modes of photoacoustic and ultrasonic simultaneously, and tissue information complementation is realized.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a block diagram of the architecture of a multi-ultrasound transducer based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a multi-ultrasound transducer based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of the present invention;
fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the scanning modes of the multi-ultrasonic-transducer-based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging method of the present invention, wherein (a) is a first scanning mode and (b) is a second scanning mode;
fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the transducer position adjusting device of the present invention for changing the pitch and position of N ultrasonic transducers to change the size of the sub-scanning interval and for each ultrasonic transducer to perform one and only one scanning for each sub-scanning interval, wherein (a) is a schematic diagram of a first structure of the transducer position adjusting device, and (b) is a schematic diagram of a second structure of the transducer position adjusting device with N = 2.
Detailed Description
The invention is further illustrated by the following examples in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the multi-ultrasonic-transducer-based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of the present embodiment includes: the system comprises a photoacoustic signal excitation module, an ultrasonic coupler 2, an ultrasonic transducer module, an ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module 4, a three-dimensional positioning module and a system control and imaging module 6; the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module comprises the tail ends of a plurality of beams of optical fibers; the ultrasonic transducer module is positioned in the ultrasonic coupler 2; the ultrasonic coupler 2 is contacted with the surface of an object to be imaged through an ultrasonic coupling agent, and the state of the ultrasonic coupling agent is gel; the tail ends of a plurality of beams of optical fibers at the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module are uniformly distributed around the ultrasonic transducer module, so that the optical fibers are uniformly distributed on the surface of an object 7 to be imaged through the ultrasonic coupler 2; the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler 2 and the ultrasonic transducer module are respectively arranged on the three-dimensional positioning module; the ultrasonic transducer module is respectively connected to the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module 4 and the system control and imaging module 6; the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module 4 and the three-dimensional positioning module are respectively connected to the system control and imaging module 6;
the ultrasonic transducer module includes: a first ultrasonic transducer 3-1, a second ultrasonic transducer 3-2, a transducer position adjusting device 3-3 and a transducer position adjusting device controller 3-4; the center frequencies of the first ultrasonic transducer 3-1 and the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 are respectively 70MHz high frequency and 30MHz low frequency, the first ultrasonic transducer 3-1 and the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 are positioned on a transducer position adjusting device 3-3, and the transducer position adjusting device 3-3 is connected to a transducer position adjusting device controller 3-4; the transducer position adjusting device controller 3-4 is connected to the system control and imaging module 6, and the system control and imaging module 6 sends an instruction to the transducer position adjusting device controller 3-4 to control the transducer position adjusting device 3-3; adjusting the distance between the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 and adjusting the positions of the two transducers by the transducer position adjusting means 3-3; the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 are in a focusing mode, the focuses of the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 are located on the same plane, namely a scanning plane, and also are detection planes of virtual points of the ultrasonic transducers, the scanning plane is parallel to an xy plane, the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 are located on the same straight line, and the straight line where the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 are located is parallel to a y axis; the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 are respectively connected to the ultrasonic signal transmitting-receiving module 4. A first configuration of the transducer position adjustment means 3-3 comprises an endless guide track and two independently motor-driven slides, each of which is independently slidable a prescribed distance along the endless guide track. The two ultrasonic transducers are respectively arranged on the two sliding blocks. The slider can drive ultrasonic transducer and move to realize ultrasonic transducer's position control. In particular, for two ultrasonic transducers, the transducer position adjusting means 3-3 may also adopt a second configuration comprising a translation stage and a rotation stage. The first ultrasonic transducer is mounted on a translation stage, the translation stage can move the ultrasonic transducer so as to adjust the distance between the two transducers, the translation stage and the second ultrasonic transducer are mounted on a rotation stage, and the position exchange of the first ultrasonic transducer 3-1 and the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 is realized by rotating the rotation stage by 180 degrees.
The photoacoustic signal excitation module includes: the device comprises a laser 1-1, a spectroscope 1-2, a first lens 1-3, an optical fiber bundle 1-4, a photoelectric detector 1-5 and a second lens; the laser 1-1 is a pulse laser 1-1, one end of an optical fiber bundle 1-4 is a round single-bundle optical fiber as an input end, the other end of the optical fiber bundle is divided into a plurality of bundles of optical fibers, each bundle of optical fiber is round or rectangular, the tail end of each bundle of optical fiber is an output end, the tail end of each bundle of optical fiber of the output end is connected with a second lens, and the second lens is positioned above the ultrasonic coupler 2 or in the ultrasonic coupler 2; during photoacoustic tomography, a small part of light emitted by the laser 1-1 is reflected by the spectroscope 1-2 and detected by the photoelectric detector 1-5 to serve as a synchronous signal, and the synchronous signal is used for triggering and collecting an ultrasonic signal in the photoacoustic tomography by the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module 4; most of light passing through the spectroscope 1-2 is coupled into a single-beam optical fiber through the first lens 1-3, then is output through the tail end of the multiple-beam optical fiber, and is irradiated on an object to be imaged after passing through the ultrasonic coupler 2, so that an ultrasonic signal in photoacoustic tomography is generated; the N ultrasonic transducers receive ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography, convert the received ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography into electric signals, transmit the electric signals to the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module 4, convert the electric signals into digital signals and transmit the digital signals to the system control and imaging module 6; the system control and imaging module 6 performs photoacoustic reconstruction.
The three-dimensional positioning module comprises: a two-dimensional horizontal translation stage 5-1, a one-dimensional vertical translation stage 5-2 and a translation stage controller 5-3; the two-dimensional horizontal translation stage 5-1 and the ultrasonic coupler 2 are arranged on the one-dimensional vertical translation stage 5-2 through side walls; the two-dimensional horizontal translation table 5-1 and the one-dimensional vertical translation table 5-2 are respectively connected to a translation table controller 5-3; the translation table controller 5-3 is connected with the system control and imaging module 6; the system control and imaging module 6 sends an instruction to the translation stage controller 5-3 to control the movement of the two-dimensional horizontal translation stage 5-1 and the one-dimensional vertical translation stage 5-2; and the transducer position adjusting device 3-3 of the ultrasonic transducer module and the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module are arranged on the two-dimensional horizontal translation table 5-1.
The ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module 4 includes: the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving switching module, the ultrasonic signal transmitting module and the ultrasonic signal receiving module; the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving switching module is respectively connected with the ultrasonic signal sending module and the ultrasonic signal receiving module; the ultrasonic signal sending module and the ultrasonic signal receiving module are respectively connected to the system control and imaging module 6; the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving switching module is used for controlling the switching of a transmitting switch and a receiving switch of an ultrasonic signal; the ultrasonic signal sending module is used for generating an excitation signal and exciting the ultrasonic transducer to send out ultrasonic waves after the ultrasonic signal sending module is connected to the system control and imaging module 6 and sends out an ultrasonic signal instruction; the ultrasonic signal receiving module is used for amplifying, filtering and performing analog-to-digital conversion on an electric signal converted by ultrasonic detection of the ultrasonic transducer, and then transmitting the electric signal to the system control and imaging module 6.
The ultrasonic coupler 2 includes: a container, a liquid ultrasonic agent, an acousto-optic transmission window and an acousto-optic transmission film; wherein, a liquid ultrasonic agent is contained in the container; an acousto-optic transmission window is arranged at the bottom of the container, and an acousto-optic transmission film is sealed in the acousto-optic transmission window; the top of the container is not provided with a cover, or the top of the container is also provided with an acousto-optic transmission window which is sealed with an acousto-optic transmission film; the liquid ultrasonic agent adopts water; in use, the end face of the ultrasonic transducer is in contact with or immersed in the liquid ultrasonic agent in the container.
The photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging method based on the multiple ultrasonic transducers comprises the following steps:
1) The scanning surface is positioned on an xy plane, and the sizes of an object to be imaged in the imaging area of the scanning surface along the x direction and the y direction are a and b respectively; the initial positions of the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 are shown as A in FIG. 4 (a), and the distance between the adjacent two ultrasonic transducers of the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 is adjusted to b/2 by the transducer position adjusting means 3-3 (transducer position adjusting means 3-3 first structure distance adjustment is shown in FIG. 4 (a)
As indicated from A to B, the slider of the transducer position adjusting device 3-3 drives the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 to move from the position indicated by A in FIG. 4 (a) to the position indicated by B and at a specified distance from the first ultrasonic transducer 3-1; second structure spacing adjustment of the transducer position adjusting device 3-3 as shown in fig. 4 (B) from a to B, the first ultrasonic transducer 3-1 is driven by the translation stage of the transducer position adjusting device 3-3 from the position shown in fig. 4 (B) as a to the position shown in B at a specified spacing from the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2); the imaging area is uniformly divided into two sub-scanning intervals along the y direction;
2) Before photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging is carried out on an object to be imaged, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler 2 and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move to the ultrasonic coupler 2 and contact with an imaging area of the object to be imaged through an ultrasonic coupling agent;
3) When the object to be imaged is subjected to photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move, so that the first ultrasonic transducer 3-1 and the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 scan the imaging area of the object to be imaged; each ultrasonic transducer corresponds to a sub-scanning interval respectively, the size of the sub-scanning interval is controlled by a transducer position adjusting device 3-3, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the first ultrasonic transducer 3-1 and the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 to scan a line of an imaging area along the x direction, then the ultrasonic transducers move one step along the y direction, and the line is continuously scanned along the x direction until the last line of the sub-scanning interval corresponding to the scanning of each ultrasonic transducer in the y direction, so that the sub-scanning intervals of the first ultrasonic transducer 3-1 and the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 are spliced into a complete imaging area, and one-time scanning of the imaging area is completed;
there are two scanning methods:
a) As shown in fig. 3 (a): the output ends of the optical fiber bundles 1-4, the second lens and the ultrasonic transducer module move in the y direction after scanning one row in the x direction, and continue scanning one row in the x direction until scanning to the last row of a half of the region to be imaged in the y direction, wherein a black circle represents a first ultrasonic transducer, and a white circle represents a second ultrasonic transducer;
the transducer position adjusting means 3-3 of the ultrasonic transducer module interchanges the positions of the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 in the y direction;
the three-dimensional positioning module controls the output ends of the optical fiber bundles 1 to 4, the second lens and the ultrasonic transducer module to scan a line along the x direction, then moves to the y reverse direction (-y direction) by one step and continues to scan a line along the x direction until the line is scanned to the first line of a half of the area to be imaged in the y direction;
b) As shown in fig. 3 (b): the output ends of the optical fiber bundles 1-4, the second lens and the ultrasonic transducer module move in the y direction after scanning a line in the x direction, and continue scanning a line in the x direction until scanning to the last line of a half of the area to be imaged in the y direction;
the transducer position adjusting means 3-3 of the ultrasonic transducer module interchanges the positions of the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 in the y direction;
then, the output ends of the optical fiber bundles 1 to 4, the second lens and the two transducers of the ultrasonic transducer module are moved to the initial positions again by using the three-dimensional positioning module;
continuing to repeat scanning a line along the x direction and then moving the line along the y direction one step and continuing to scan a line along the x direction until scanning the last line of a half of the area to be imaged in the y direction; the rapid scanning mode ensures that the signal of each imaging position is collected by the high-frequency ultrasonic transducer and the low-frequency ultrasonic transducer once under the condition of not increasing the imaging scanning time, so that the ultrasonic signal in the photoacoustic tomography with wider frequency can be collected, and the rapid and multi-scale photoacoustic tomography is realized;
4) Changing the positions of the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 by the transducer position adjusting device 3-3, so that each ultrasonic transducer corresponds to a new sub-scanning interval, each ultrasonic transducer continues to scan the corresponding sub-scanning interval, and repeating the step 3), so that each ultrasonic transducer scans each sub-scanning interval once and only once:
transducer position adjustment device 3-3A first method for changing transducer position is shown in FIGS. 4 (a) B to D, in which first a slider moves first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2, respectively, from the position shown in FIG. 4 (a) B to the y + direction by the distance of the center-to-center distance between adjacent transducers, respectively, to the position shown in FIG. 4 (a) C, and then a slider of the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 at the y + maximum position moves the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 from FIG. 4 (a)
The position indicated by C is along the endless track to the position of the first ultrasonic transducer 3-1 indicated by B in fig. 4 (a), and comparing B and D in fig. 4 (a), it can be seen that the positions of the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 are interchanged, and that the respective new sub-scanning intervals can be scanned until each ultrasonic transducer scans each sub-scanning interval once and only once; a second method for changing the position of the transducer by using the second structure of the transducer position adjusting device 3-3 is shown in fig. 4 (B) B to C, in which the rotating table drives the translation table and the second ultrasonic transducer 3-2 mounted thereon to rotate 180 degrees, so as to rotate the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 from the position shown in B in fig. 4 (B) to the position shown in C in fig. 4 (B), and comparing B and C in fig. 4 (B), it can be seen that the positions of the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 are interchanged, and respective new sub-scanning intervals can be scanned until each ultrasonic transducer scans each sub-scanning interval once and only once;
the scanning mode ensures that the signal of each imaging position is collected by the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 with different frequencies once under the condition of not increasing the imaging scanning time, so that the ultrasonic signal in the photoacoustic tomography with wider frequency can be collected, and the rapid and multi-scale photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging can be realized;
5) The first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 transmit the acquired signals to the system control and imaging module 6 through the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module 4; the system control and imaging module 6 reconstructs ultrasonic signals in photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic signals in ultrasonic imaging acquired by the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 to obtain photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic images, and performs single-mode or photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic image bimodal fusion display; the positions of the same ultrasonic transducers used in the photoacoustic tomography and the ultrasonic two-mode scanning imaging are completely overlapped, so that the registration operation is not needed; when the ultrasonic signals acquired by the first and second ultrasonic transducers 3-1 and 3-2 are used for photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic image reconstruction, firstly, the signals of the ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies are multiplied by a proportionality constant respectively, then are superposed, and then are subjected to later reconstruction; or the signals of the ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies are firstly reconstructed respectively, and then the reconstructed results are superposed after being multiplied by a proportionality constant respectively. The proportionality constant is obtained by experiment or adjusted manually, and is used for adjusting the proportion of the high and low frequency signals in the whole signal.
Finally, it is noted that the disclosed embodiments are intended to aid in further understanding of the invention, but those skilled in the art will appreciate that: various substitutions and modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and the appended claims. Therefore, the invention should not be limited by the disclosure of the embodiments, but should be defined by the scope of the appended claims.
Claims (10)
1. A multi-ultrasound transducer based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system, the multi-ultrasound transducer based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system comprising: the system comprises a photoacoustic signal excitation module, an ultrasonic coupler, an ultrasonic transducer module, an ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module, a three-dimensional positioning module and a system control and imaging module; the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module comprises the tail ends of a plurality of bundles of optical fibers; the end face of the ultrasonic transducer module is connected with the ultrasonic coupler; the ultrasonic coupler is contacted with the surface of an object to be imaged through an ultrasonic coupling agent during imaging, so that the end face of the ultrasonic transducer module is directly opposite to the surface of the object to be imaged through the ultrasonic coupler during imaging; the tail ends of a plurality of optical fibers at the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module are symmetrically distributed around the end face of the ultrasonic transducer module, so that output light at the tail ends of the plurality of optical fibers is uniformly irradiated on the surface of an object to be imaged, which is opposite to the ultrasonic transducer, through the ultrasonic coupler during imaging; the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module are respectively arranged on the three-dimensional positioning module; the ultrasonic transducer module is respectively connected to the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module and the system control and imaging module; the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module and the three-dimensional positioning module are respectively connected to the system control and imaging module;
the ultrasonic transducer module comprises N ultrasonic transducers, a transducer position adjusting device and a transducer position adjusting device controller; the end faces of the N ultrasonic transducers are used as the end faces of the ultrasonic transducer modules, the center frequencies of the N ultrasonic transducers are different, and N is a natural number not less than 2; the N ultrasonic transducers are positioned on the transducer position adjusting device, and the transducer position adjusting device is connected to the transducer position adjusting device controller; the transducer position adjusting device controller is connected to the system control and imaging module; the system control and imaging module sends an instruction to the transducer position adjusting device controller to control the transducer position adjusting device; the transducer position adjusting device is used for adjusting the positions of the N ultrasonic transducers; the N ultrasonic transducers are in a focusing mode, the focuses of the N ultrasonic transducers are located on the same plane, namely a scanning plane, and also are detection planes of virtual points of the ultrasonic transducers, the scanning plane is parallel to an xy plane, the N ultrasonic transducers are located on the same straight line, and the straight line where the N ultrasonic transducers are located is parallel to a y axis; the N ultrasonic transducers are respectively connected to the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module;
the sizes of an object to be imaged in the imaging area of the scanning surface along the x direction and the y direction are a and b respectively; adjusting the distance between two adjacent ultrasonic transducers in the N ultrasonic transducers into b/N through a transducer position adjusting device; the imaging area is uniformly divided into N sub-scanning intervals along the y direction;
performing photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging on an object to be imaged; before imaging, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move to an imaging area facing an object to be imaged, and the output end, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module are in contact with the surface of the object to be imaged through an ultrasonic coupling agent; during imaging, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move, so that the N ultrasonic transducers scan an imaging area of an object to be imaged, and simultaneously acquire ultrasonic signals in photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic signals in ultrasonic imaging of the object to be imaged; each ultrasonic transducer corresponds to one sub-scanning interval respectively, and the three-dimensional positioning module drives the N ultrasonic transducers to scan the imaging area, so that the sub-scanning intervals scanned by the N ultrasonic transducers are spliced into a complete imaging area to complete one-time scanning of the imaging area; changing the positions of the N ultrasonic transducers through the transducer position adjusting device, enabling each ultrasonic transducer to respectively correspond to a new sub-scanning interval, and continuously scanning the corresponding sub-scanning interval by each ultrasonic transducer for N times, so that each ultrasonic transducer scans each sub-scanning interval once and only once; the scanning mode ensures that the ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging at each imaging position are collected by the N ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies once under the condition of not increasing the imaging scanning time, so that the ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging with wider frequencies can be collected, and the fast and multi-scale photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic imaging are realized; the N ultrasonic transducers transmit the acquired ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging to the system control and imaging module through the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module; the system control and imaging module reconstructs ultrasonic signals in photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic signals in ultrasonic imaging acquired by the N ultrasonic transducers to obtain photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic images, and performs single-mode or photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic image bimodal fusion display; because the same ultrasonic transducer is adopted during photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging, the positions are completely overlapped, and the registration operation is not needed.
2. The multi-ultrasound transducer-based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the photoacoustic signal excitation module comprises: the device comprises a laser, a spectroscope, a first lens, an optical fiber bundle and a photoelectric detector; the laser is a pulse laser, one end of an optical fiber bundle is a round single-bundle optical fiber serving as an input end, the other end of the optical fiber bundle is divided into a plurality of bundles of optical fibers, each bundle of optical fibers is round or rectangular, and the tail ends of the plurality of bundles of optical fibers serve as the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module; when photoacoustic tomography is carried out, a small part of light is separated from laser emitted by the laser through the spectroscope and is detected by the photoelectric detector as a synchronous signal, and the synchronous signal is used for triggering and collecting ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography by the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module; most of light split by the spectroscope is coupled into a single-beam optical fiber through a first lens, then is output through the tail ends of a plurality of beams of optical fibers, and is irradiated onto an object to be imaged through an ultrasonic coupler to generate an ultrasonic signal in photoacoustic tomography; the N ultrasonic transducers receive ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography, convert the received ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography into electric signals, transmit the electric signals to the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving module, convert the electric signals into digital signals and transmit the digital signals to the system control and imaging module; and the system control and imaging module performs photoacoustic reconstruction.
3. The multi-ultrasound transducer-based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the photoacoustic signal excitation module further comprises a second lens, one second lens attached to each bundle of the ends of the plurality of bundles of optical fibers at the output end, the second lens being located above or within the ultrasound coupler.
4. The multi-ultrasound transducer-based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound transducer is in focusing mode, using a spherical focusing probe or using a focusing lens placed in front of a planar probe.
5. The multi-ultrasound transducer-based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional localization module comprises: a two-dimensional horizontal translation stage, a one-dimensional vertical translation stage and a translation stage controller; the ultrasonic coupler is arranged on the one-dimensional vertical translation platform; the energy converter position adjusting device of the ultrasonic energy converter module and the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module are arranged on the two-dimensional horizontal translation platform; the two-dimensional horizontal translation stage and the one-dimensional vertical translation stage are respectively connected to the translation stage controller; the translation table controller is connected with the system control and imaging module; the system control and imaging module sends an instruction to the translation stage controller to control the movement of the two-dimensional horizontal translation stage and the one-dimensional vertical translation stage.
6. The multi-ultrasound transducer-based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound signal transmitting and receiving module comprises: the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving switching module, the ultrasonic signal transmitting module and the ultrasonic signal receiving module; the ultrasonic signal sending and receiving switching module is respectively connected with the ultrasonic signal sending module and the ultrasonic signal receiving module; the ultrasonic signal sending module and the ultrasonic signal receiving module are respectively connected to the system control and imaging module; the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving switching module is used for controlling the switching of the transmitting and receiving switches of the ultrasonic signals; the ultrasonic signal sending module generates an excitation signal and excites the ultrasonic transducer to send out ultrasonic waves after receiving an ultrasonic signal instruction sent by the system control and imaging module; the ultrasonic signal receiving module converts the electric signal from the ultrasonic transducer into a digital signal and transmits the digital signal to the system control and imaging module.
7. The multi-ultrasound transducer-based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound coupler comprises: a container, a liquid ultrasonic agent, an acousto-optic transmission window and an acousto-optic transmission film; wherein, a liquid ultrasonic agent is contained in the container; an acousto-optic transmission window is arranged at the bottom of the container, and an acousto-optic transmission film is sealed in the acousto-optic transmission window; the top of the container is not provided with a cover, or the top of the container is also provided with an acousto-optic transmission window; an acousto-optic transmission film is sealed in the acousto-optic transmission window.
8. The multi-ultrasound transducer-based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the transducer position adjusting means comprises two structures; the first structure comprises an annular guide rail and N sliding blocks, wherein an ultrasonic transducer is placed on each sliding block, each sliding block is independently connected with a motor, and each sliding block can independently slide for a set distance along the annular guide rail under the driving of the motor; for N =2, the transducer position adjustment device can also adopt a second configuration: the second structure comprises a translation stage and a rotation stage; the first ultrasonic transducer is installed on the translation platform, thereby the translation platform drives the displacement of first ultrasonic transducer and adjusts first and second ultrasonic transducer's interval, and translation platform and second ultrasonic transducer install on the revolving stage, rotate 180 degrees through the revolving stage and realize first and second ultrasonic transducer's position exchange.
9. An imaging method of a multi-ultrasound transducer based photoacoustic tomography and ultrasound imaging system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the imaging method comprises the steps of:
1) The sizes of an object to be imaged in the imaging area of the scanning surface along the x direction and the y direction are a and b respectively; adjusting the distance between two adjacent ultrasonic transducers in the N ultrasonic transducers into b/N through a transducer position adjusting device; the imaging area is uniformly divided into N sub-scanning intervals along the y direction, wherein N is a natural number more than or equal to 2;
2) Before photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging is carried out on an object to be imaged, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move to an imaging area facing the object to be imaged, and the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module, the ultrasonic coupler and the ultrasonic transducer module are in contact with the surface of the object to be imaged through the ultrasonic coupler;
3) When the object to be imaged is subjected to photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging, the three-dimensional positioning module drives the output end of the photoacoustic signal excitation module and the ultrasonic transducer module to integrally move, so that the N ultrasonic transducers scan the imaging area of the object to be imaged and simultaneously acquire ultrasonic signals sent by the object to be imaged; each ultrasonic transducer corresponds to one sub-scanning interval respectively, and the three-dimensional positioning module drives the N ultrasonic transducers to scan the imaging area, so that the sub-scanning intervals scanned by the N ultrasonic transducers are spliced into a complete imaging area to complete one-time scanning of the imaging area;
4) Changing the positions of the N ultrasonic transducers through the transducer position adjusting device, enabling each ultrasonic transducer to respectively correspond to a new sub-scanning interval, continuously scanning the corresponding sub-scanning interval by each ultrasonic transducer, repeating the step 3), and scanning for N times in total, so that each ultrasonic transducer scans each sub-scanning interval once and only once; the scanning mode ensures that the ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging at each imaging position are collected by the N ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies once under the condition of not increasing the imaging scanning time, so that the acoustic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging with wider frequencies can be collected, and the fast and multi-scale photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging can be realized;
5) The N ultrasonic transducers transmit the acquired ultrasonic signals in the photoacoustic tomography and/or the ultrasonic signals in the ultrasonic imaging to the system control and imaging module through the ultrasonic signal transmitting and receiving module; the system control and imaging module reconstructs ultrasonic signals in photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic imaging acquired by the N ultrasonic transducers to obtain photoacoustic tomography and/or ultrasonic images, and performs single-mode or photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic image bimodal fusion display; the same ultrasonic transducer is adopted during photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonic imaging, so that the positions are completely overlapped without registration operation.
10. The imaging method as claimed in claim 9, wherein in step 3), the photoacoustic tomography and the ultrasound image are bimodal, and one imaging modality can be acquired at one scanning point and then another imaging modality can be acquired, or one imaging modality can be acquired in the whole imaging area and then another imaging modality can be acquired.
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