Wearable photoacoustic vascular imaging system

Abstract

A non-invasive wearable imaging apparatus for vascular detection employing photo-acoustic principle is disclosed. Additionally, a wearable micro-display component is also described. The method includes pulsed laser as an energy source at a wavelength range at which both the blood and the adjoining tissue absorb the light and convert the energy into kinetic energy which heats the tissue. The temperature of the tissue rises and falls in sympathy with the frequency of the impinging light. The alternative heating and cooling of the illuminated region causes alternating sympathetic expansion and contraction of the region with corresponding rising and falling of the tissue surface and of the air in contact with the surface, thereby generating sound waves. A sensor enables the differentiation between the venous and surrounding tissues from which imaging of the venous tissue is extracted. In addition to the acoustic sensors, the sympathetic rising and falling of the tissue surface are converted into color characteristic signals representative of the relative displacement of the tissue surface. Additionally, the differential heating of the tissues enables the visual detection of the venous tissues by appropriate filter lenses. These embodiments also present miniaturization of the generation, imaging and display components, enabling the detection of the blood vessels in a wearable form factor.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.