Patent Document ID: 9282899
Application ID: 13725141
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method comprising the steps of: acoustically coupling a plurality of transducers with a portion of a surface of a volume of tissue; directing a pulse of light onto an area of the surface of the volume of tissue, the pulse imparting less than a predetermined fluence upon the surface; recording a sinogram by sampling the plurality of transducers acoustically coupled with the surface of the volume for a predetermined period of time after the pulse of light to record data reflecting the optoacoustic response of the volume of tissue to the pulse, the samples for each transducer corresponding to a channel; analyzing the sinogram for the presence of one or more anomalous channels by: for each channel, determining a channel average for a first group of samples; determining an average of the channel averages; and identifying as anomalous each channel having a channel average that is an outlier when compared with the average of the channel averages; modifying the sinogram samples corresponding with the one or more anomalous channels to reduce the effect of the anomalous channel on an image reconstructed from the sinogram.