Integrated Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Imaging for Effective Endovenous Laser Ablation: A Characterization Study

Chronic venous insufficiencies due to venous valvular incompetence cause varicose veins. Varicose are characterized by the superficial bulging varicosities and are responsible for a variety of ailments, including pain, bleeding, dermatitis and even venous ulcers. Endovenous laser ablation (EVLA) is a minimally invasive, ultrasound (US)-guided procedure for treating varicose veins. However, US imaging suffers from artifacts and is unable to visualize the accurate location of the fiber tip within the vein. Current clinical EVLA procedures lack the ability to monitor the real-time temperature inside the vein during ablation procedures. Photoacoustic (PA) imaging can be integrated with existing EVLA systems for accurate fiber tip tracking and real-time temperature monitoring. This study will focus on characterizing the effectiveness of the PA-guided fiber tip tracking procedures at (1) different depths of the vessel, (2) different fiber orientations and different pulsed laser energies. The temperature monitoring capabilities of PA imaging will be evaluated using a real-world.