Simulteneous picomolar sensitivity MRI and photoacoustic imaging

Multimodality imaging studies have gained widespread importance because they allow limitations of individual modalities to be overcome while capitalizing on the strengths of the modalities that were combined. A new combination of imaging modalities has been achieved by Bouchard et al. (PNAS, March 2009), where they built a system and have performed simultaneous picomolar sensitivity MRI and photoacoustic imaging of cobalt nanoparticles. This system also has the capability of performing photothermal imaging. The research group's application for multimodality imaging is novel and presents great promise.