Quantitative spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging: a review

Obtaining absolute chromophore concentrations from photoacoustic images obtained at multiple wavelengths is a nontrivial aspect of photoacoustic imaging but is essential for accurate functional and molecular imaging. This topic, known as quantitative photoacoustic imaging, is reviewed here. The inverse problems involved are described, their nature (nonlinear and ill-posed) is discussed, proposed solution techniques and their limitations are explained, and the remaining unsolved challenges are introduced. (C) 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). [DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.17.6.061202]