Scientists say it is possible to create a three-dimensional image of the most deadliest form of skin cancer using a new imaging technology.

Two scientists of Washington University in St. Louis have developed imaging technologies to overcome this difficult problem.
Their solution combines an imaging technique developed by Lihong Wang, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and a contrast agent developed by Younan Xia, the James M. McKelvey Professor of Biomedical Engineering.
Together the imaging technique and contrast agent produce images of startling three-dimensional clarity.
The imaging technique is based on the photoacoustic effect discovered by Alexander Graham Bell 100 years ago. Bell exploited the effect in what he considered his greatest invention ever, the photophone, which converted sound to light, transmitted the light and then converted it back to sound at the receiver.
In Bell's effect, the absorption of light heats a material slightly, typically by a matter of millikelvins, and the temperature rise causes thermoelastic expansion.
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If the light is pulsed at the right frequency, the material will expand and contract, generating a sound wave.
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"Using pure optical imaging, it is hard to look deep into tissues because light is absorbed and scattered. The useful photons run out of juice within one millimeter," he further said.
The technology has been described in the July issue of journal ACS Nano.
Source-ANI