In vivo photoacoustic flowmetry in the optical diffusive regime based on saline injection

We propose a saline-injection-based method to quantify blood flow velocity in vivo with acoustic-resolution photoacoustic tomography. By monitoring the saline-blood-interface propagating in the blood vessel, we can resolve the flow velocity. In phantom experiments, a root-mean-squared error of prediction of 0.29 mm/s was achieved. By injecting saline into a mouse tail vein covered with 1 mm chicken tissue, we showed that the flow velocity in the tail vein could be measured at depth, which is especially pertinent to monitoring blood flow velocity in patients undergoing intravenous infusion.