Sulfate phantoms to mimic NIR photoacoustic response of whole blood at selected oxygen saturations

Abstract

This paper presents a practical guide to prepare inorganic solutions that mimic the photoacoustic properties of whole blood at specific levels of oxygenation in the range of 700 nm to 850 nm, both in terms of optical absorption properties and the Gr{ü}neisen coefficient. The goal is to provide aqueous solutions that can be injected in tissue-mimicking imaging phantoms to test the sensitivity and spectral capabilities of photoacoustic imaging systems operating at multiple wavelengths to estimate blood oxygenation.