Fast Semi-Analytical Acoustic Inversion For Quantitative Optoacoustic Tomography

We present a fast inversion algorithm for quantitative two-and three-dimensional optoacoustic tomography. The algorithm is based on an accurate and efficient forward model, which eliminates the need for regularization in the inversion and can achieve real-time performance. The reconstruction speed and other algorithmic performances are demonstrated using numerical simulation studies and experimentally on tissue-mimicking optically heterogeneous phantoms and small animals. In the experimental examples, the model-based reconstructions manifested correctly the effect of light attenuation through the objects and did not suffer from the artifacts which usually afflict the commonly used filtered backprojection algorithms, such as negative absorption values.