Evaluation of Ferucarbotran (Resovist®) as a photoacoustic contrast agent

Photoacoustic imaging combines the resolution of ultrasound imaging with the contrast of optical imaging, while maintaining a penetration depth up to a few centimeters. Inorganic gold nanorods can be employed as photoacoustic contrast agents. However, the toxicological properties of such nanoparticles are still under investigation. At the same time, there is an increasing need for clinically established photoacoustic contrast agents. In this paper, therefore, we investigate the photoacoustic properties of Ferucarbotran, which is a clinically established nanoscale contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging. Gelatin phantoms containing cubes with different gelatin-Ferucarbotran mixture concentrations were prepared and irradiated by a Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm). First, the photoacoustic signals were acquired by a single element ultrasound transducer (7.5 MHz) and evaluated quantitatively. In a second setup, photoacoustic imaging of Ferucarbotran with a modified clinical scanner was demonstrated. The experiments showed that in order to achieve a 6 dB gain of received photoacoustic signal energy, compared to the sensitivity threshold of the used system, a Ferucarbotran concentration of 1.9 mu mol Fe/ml is needed. The photoacoustic imaging was successful and showed a contrast-to-background ratio of 15.7 dB for a concentration of 11.63 mu mol Fe/ml. However, for imaging in tissue the signal-to-noise ratio has to be increased.