Magneto-Acousto-Electrical Tomography of Magnetic Nanoparticles With Electrode Detection

The large current excitation in magnetic particle imaging (MPI) significantly limits its clinical application. We propose a novel method, Magneto-Acousto-Electrical Tomography of Magnetic Nanoparticles with Electrode Detection (MAET-ED), which uses ultrasound and static magnetic field excitation. In this paper, we establish a mathematical-physical coupling model of the acoustic and electromagnetic fields for MAET-ED, based on the Lorentz theory and the electromagnetic reciprocity theorem. Moreover, a Projection Gradient Descent - Least Squares Minimum Residual (PGD-LSMR) image reconstruction algorithm is proposed. We validate the proposed method through numerical simulations and experimental studies. First, we validate the feasibility of the magneto-acousto-electrical physical method for magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Second, we investigate the image reconstruction quality based on the Tikhonov regularization algorithm, conjugate gradient algorithm, least squares QR decomposition algorithm, and PGD-LSMR algorithm under various levels of Gaussian noise. The simulation and experimental results show that the proposed MAET-ED can reconstruct 30 nm diameter MNPs, breaking through the 100 nm diameter limitation of ultrasound-electromagnetic-based magnetic particle imaging. This method provides a new foundational imaging theory and technology for precision medicine based on nanomedicine.