Diagnosing cancerous tumor by two techniques: photoacoustic imaging and thermoacoustic tomography with electric excitation—a numerical approach for comparison

A numerical study and simulation of cancerous tumor detection using the photoacoustic (PA) phenomenon and thermoacoustic with electric excitation (TATE) are presented. This report was in a small dimension of mimic breast tissue. Besides, the different layers of the breast were considered. The optical, thermal, elastic, electric, and acoustic characteristics of different layers of breast tissue and tumor at radiated laser wavelength (800 nm) and electric voltage pulse, were accurately calculated or obtained from reliable sources for the calculations to be done accurately and realistically; also, for accurate comparing of two methods, the amount and power of voltage and laser have been selected as the minimum allowable values. Therefore, it was possible to rely on the values and characteristics of the resulting data in comparing the accuracy and clarification of the two methods. A single suitable platform for simulating, which is commercially available Finite Element software (COMSOL®), has been selected. By using this platform, we were able to simulate these two methods from stimulation to propagation continuously. Finally, by studying the data matrix of two simulations, we can demonstrate the maximum difference of stress in and out of tumor in the two methods is about 0.1 Pa higher in PAT relative to the TATE. It means PAT is more accurate than TATE and the combination of these two methods can be ideal for the accurate and complete study of cancerous tumors.