Speaker
Abstract
Optoacoustic tomography (OAT) is a novel imaging technology that has seen rapid adoption by the biomedical scientific community in the last few years. OAT utilizes the photoacoustic effect to visualize and quantify anatomical, functional and molecular information, in vivo, in deep tissue and in real time. It allows the preclinical study of disease processes on a molecular level as well as the non-invasive analysis of pharmacokinetic and biodistribution properties for new substances. Recently, OAT has been translated for clinical use. Initial patient studies have been conducted in the areas of skin cancer, breast cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and vascular diseases. While the results of these early clini-cal trials are very promising, the commercial success of the technology will depend on establishing OAT as a diagnostic standard for particular applications and the ability for health care providers to realize sustainable reimbursement for such OAT procedures.
