Photoacoustic imaging: a potential new platform for assessment of bone health

摘要

The ultimate goal of this work is to develop a novel photoacoustic (QPA) platform for highly-sensitive and quantitative assessment of bone health. First, the feasibility to perform 3D photoacoustic imaging (PAI) of bone was investigated. Then another two techniques, including thermal photoacoustic measurement (TPAM) and photoacoustic spectral analysis (PASA), both being able to achieve quantitative results were investigated for bone characterization. TPAM, by evaluating the dependence of photoacoustic signal amplitude on the sample temperature, is sensitive to the chemical constituents in tissue and holds promise for assessment of bone mineral density (BMD). PASA characterizes micron size physical features in tissue, and has shown feasibility for objective assessment of bone microarchitecture (BMA). This integrated QPA platform can assess both bone mass and microstructure simultaneously without involving invasive biopsy or ionizing radiation. Since QPA is non-ionizing, non-invasive, and has sufficient penetration in both soft tissue and bone, it has unique advantages for clinical translation.