Purpose: The goal of this study was to investigate the feasibility for the early diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis by the reconstruction of three-dimensional photoacoustic imaging with a tissue phantom. Methods: Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (l = 532 nm) was applied to a tissue phantom to generate photoacoustic waves, and the acquired photoacoustic signals at different positions around the sample were used to recombine the distribution of the optical absorption and the images were subsequently generated through a reconstruction algorithm. Results: From the acquired photoacoustic signals, the surface andinner core of the phantom was clearly distinguished. Furthermore, the back-projection algorithm was able to reconstruct two-dimensional and three-dimensional photoacoustic images that contained the optical absorption property information of the tissue phantom. Conclusion: The results indicate that the photoacoustic imaging technique has many advantages such as high optical contrast and high acoustic resolution. The acquired images can be used for the early diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis by the structural information obtained from the region of interest.