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Revolutionary Imaging Technique Boosts Breast Cancer Detection

2/8/2026

Summary

Story summary

Researchers at Caltech and the University of Southern California (USC) developed a medical imaging technique called rotational ultrasound and photoacoustic tomography (RUS-PAT).
RUS-PAT creates 3D color images of soft tissue and blood vessels, which may improve breast cancer imaging and monitor nerve damage from diabetes.
The system scans tissue up to 4 centimeters deep in under a minute and has been tested on human volunteers.
The study, titled "Rotational ultrasound and photoacoustic tomography of the human body," was co-authored by Yang Zhang, Shuai Na, and Dr. Jonathan J. Russin, and funded by the National Institutes of Health.

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Story summary

Researchers at Caltech and the University of Southern California (USC) developed a medical imaging technique called rotational ultrasound and photoacoustic tomography (RUS-PAT).
RUS-PAT creates 3D color images of soft tissue and blood vessels, which may improve breast cancer imaging and monitor nerve damage from diabetes.
The system scans tissue up to 4 centimeters deep in under a minute and has been tested on human volunteers.
The study, titled "Rotational ultrasound and photoacoustic tomography of the human body," was co-authored by Yang Zhang, Shuai Na, and Dr. Jonathan J. Russin, and funded by the National Institutes of Health.