Real-time photoacoustic imaging with freehand light delivery and augmented reality guidance.

Junhao Zhang, Cynthia Li, Muyinatu A Lediju Bell

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Photoacoustics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Junhao ZhangDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 21218, MD, USA.

Cynthia LiDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 21218, MD, USA.

Muyinatu A Lediju BellDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 21218, MD, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Photoacoustic-guided surgery benefits from precise co-alignment between detached light delivery and sound reception components. Misalignment can result in absent photoacoustic signals, potentially leading to critical structures incorrectly interpreted as absent. Augmented reality has the potential to provide real-time spatial registration and intuitive visualization through tracking of the laser and ultrasound transducer positions. We developed and validated a novel augmented reality guidance system that tracks a freehand light source and ultrasound transducer, rendering real-time virtual representations of the associated laser beam and ultrasound image to facilitate intuitive alignment. Quantitative evaluation demonstrated a 58% reduction in mean targeting error during a static alignment task, relative to a standard freehand approach implemented without augmented reality. The total variance of laser-image intersection distribution with augmented reality was 12.0 mm

Indexed as

Augmented realityPhotoacoustic imagingSurgical guidanceVirtual reality

Identifiers

PMID42255998

DOI10.1016/j.pacs.2026.100827

PMCPMC13242026

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.