@article{viator02a,
  author = {J. A. Viator and G. Au and G. Paltauf and S. L. Jacques and S. A. Prahl and H. Ren and Z. Chen and J. Stuart Nelson},
  title = {Clinical Testing of a Photoacoustic Probe for Port Wine Stain Depth Determination},
  journal = {Lasers in Surgery and Medicine},
  volume = {30},
  pages = {141--148},
  year = {2002},
  abstract = {Background and Objective: Successful laser treatment of port wine stain (PWS) birthmarks requires knowledge of lesion geometry. Laser parameters, such as pulse dura- tion, wavelength, and radiant exposure, and other treat- ment parameters, such as cryogen spurt duration, need to be optimized according to epidermal melanin content and lesion depth. We designed, constructed, and clinically tested a photoacoustic probe for PWS depth determination. \vskip2mm Study Design / Materials and Methods: Energy from a frequency-doubled, Nd:YAG laser ($\lambda$=532\,nm, $\tau_p$=4\,nanoseconds) was coupled into two 1,500\,mm optical šbers štted into an acrylic handpiece containing a piezoelectric acoustic detector. Laser light induced photoacoustic waves in tissue phantoms and a patient's PWS. The photoacoustic propagation time was used to calculate the depth of the embedded absorbers and PWS lesion. \vskip2mm Results: Calculated chromophore depths in tissue phan- toms were within 10\% of the actual depths of the phantoms. PWS depths were calculated as the sum of the epidermal thickness, determined by optical coherence tomography (OCT), and the epidermal-to-PWS thickness, determined photoacoustically. PWS depths were all in the range of 310$\pm$570 mm. The experimentally determined PWS depths were within 20\% of those measured by optical Doppler tomography (ODT). \vskip2mm Conclusions: PWS lesion depth can be determined by a photoacoustic method that utilizes acoustic propagation time},
}