In vivo photoacoustic imaging of model of port wine stains.

Port wine stains are categorized as a benign capillary vascular malformation, which is hard to cure. In this paper, a photoacoustic microscopy system, which integrated a two-dimensional scanning galvanometer, an objective lens and a focused ultrasound transducer, was designed for noninvasive imaging of blood vessels of port wine stains model in vivo. Cock comb was chosen as the port wine stains model in the experiment. The blood vessels in x-y plane and x-z plane were imaged clearly. Experimental results demonstrate that photoacoustic microscopy can image the blood vessels of port wine stains model in vivo with high contrast and high resolution. It has the potential for clinical applications in detecting the blood vessels in port wine stains skin.