Photoacoustic signal measurement for burned skins in the spectral range of 500 - 650nm: Experiment with rat burn models

摘要

This paper reports the burn diagnosis that is based on the measurement of photoacoustic waves from skin, where the acoustic waves originate from the absorption of light by blood. For this purpose, a transducer composed of a ring-shaped piezoelectric film and a quartz fiber was made. An optical parametric oscillator (500 - 650 nm) was used as a light source and its output pulses were coupled to the quartz fiber. To investigate the optimum light wavelength, we conducted experiments using rat burn models. We demonstrated that the superficial dermal burn (SDB), deep dermal burn (DDB), deep burn (DB), and control (healthy skin) could be clearly differentiated based on the photoacoustic signals induced by the light of 532 - 580nm.