title: The effects of acoustic attenuation in optoacoustic signals.
abstract: In this paper, it is demonstrated that the effects of acoustic attenuation may play a significant role in establishing the quality of tomographic optoacoustic reconstructions. Accordingly, spatially dependent reduction of signal amplitude leads to quantification errors in the reconstructed distribution of the optical absorption coefficient while signal broadening causes loss of image resolution. Here we propose a correction algorithm for accounting for attenuation effects, which is applicable in both the time and frequency domains. It is further investigated which part of the optoacoustic signal spectrum is practically affected by those effects in realistic imaging scenarios. The validity and benefits of the suggested modelling and correction approaches are experimentally validated in phantom measurements.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging, Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Center Munich, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: X Luís
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Deán-Ben
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Razansky
authors.forename: Vasilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ntziachristos
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000162:Acoustics; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014054:Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods