Photoacoustic apparatus, signal processing method of photoacoustic apparatus, and program

Abstract

A photoacoustic apparatus includes a light source generating multiple lights with different wavelengths, a converting element receiving photoacoustic waves generated in a subject by the subject being irradiated by the multiple lights, a first distribution obtaining unit obtaining a property distribution based on optical absorption within the subject, for each of the mutually different wavelengths, using time-sequence reception signals each output from the converting element for each of the mutually different wavelengths, a second distribution obtaining unit obtaining, using multiple property distributions based on optical absorption for each wavelength, a concentration-related distribution of a substance of an object region of the subject, and a statistical information obtaining unit obtaining statistical information indicating variance in distribution in at least part of the concentration-related distribution.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A photoacoustic apparatus comprising:
 a light source configured to generate a plurality of lights with mutually different wavelengths;   a converting element configured to receive photoacoustic waves generated in a subject by the subject being irradiated by the plurality of lights;   a first distribution obtaining unit configured to obtain a property distribution based on optical absorption within the subject, for each of the mutually different wavelengths, using time-sequence reception signals output from the converting element for each of the mutually different wavelengths;   a second distribution obtaining unit configured to, using a plurality of property distributions based on optical absorption for each of the mutually different wavelengths, obtain a concentration-related distribution of a substance of an object region of the subject; and   a statistical information obtaining unit configured to obtain statistical information indicating variance in distribution in at least a part of the concentration-related distribution;   wherein the second distribution obtaining unit obtains, based on the statistical information, a concentration-related distribution where positional deviation between the object region and the converting element at each of the mutually different wavelengths is suppressed.