Optical imaging is the simplest modality for any imaging applications. Also, microscopy has the best resolution among all the imaging modalities used for clinical diagnosis and biomedical research. However, detection of inclusions by optical imaging in a biological tissue might be challenging because of the scattering and absorption inside the tissue. Due to the scattering, an optical image of an object inside a turbid medium yields a scattering-induced blur, which increases with the depth of the object from the surface of the medium. This correlation has been shown in literature to be used for depth estimation from single trans-illumination images. In a similar way, the scattering-blur also changes while varying the focal plane of the imaging system. This gradual change in the contrast can be utilised to determine the actual position of the object from a stack of multiple focus-shifted images. Here, we present a proof of concept of a deep-learning based method for determining the location of objects inside turbid media, from a stack of blurred images. Since trans-illumination is not applicable for large body-parts, epi-illumination setup was used for imaging. For this preliminary study, a U-Net neural network regression model was trained and tested under simplified conditions. It takes 3D image data as input and gives a 2D depth matrix as output. Black PU structures of simple geometrical shapes were used as absorbing objects. An intralipid solution of 0.7% concentration was used as the scattering substrate. The black absorbers, immersed in the substrate, were imaged with microscope by varying the focal plane to obtain the image-stacks. The actual depth profile of the absorbers was measured with a 3D profilometer, which was used as corresponding ground truth for training. The predicted results from the trained model show good agreement with the ground truth for testing data.
Shifted position-diffuse reflectance imaging is a technique for the non-invasive assessment of microcirculation. In this study, its lateral resolution and imaging depth were determined to be 95 μm and 295 μm, respectively, by Monte-Carlo simulations.
Photoacoustic imaging is a new, rising imaging technique which combines high penetration depth with a good image contrast. It is demonstrated for the first time that remote photoacoustic sensing by speckle-analysis can be performed in the MHz-sampling range using a low-resolution diode array by showing experimental results. Phantoms and ex-vivo samples are measured in transmission-mode. In addition, the detection sensitivity of the new system is estimated. The new technique might help in future to broaden the applications of photoacoustics in special applications like wound imaging, endoscopy or guiding laser surgeries.
Photoacoustic tomography is a new, rising imaging technique since it combines high penetration depth with good image contrast. Speckle-analysis represents an attractive, non-contact alternative to contact-based ultrasound transducers which are state of the art for photoacoustic tomography. In this work, it is demonstrated for the first time that the speckle-sensing technique is in theory capable of photoacoustic image reconstruction by measuring on several surface locations after photoacoustic excitation. Therefore, a simulative model is used to test a back-reconstruction algorithm and a first feasibility experiment is shown.
In an incoherent optical fiber bundle (IOFB), the spatial correspondence of its both ends is not given, which usually complicates its handling. There are, however, medical applications for which IOFBs are well suited: Ultra-high spatial resolution fiber spectroscopy, for example, requires densely packed thin fibers on one side of the bundle, while on the other bundle side a flexible arrangement of the fibers is necessary to prevent overlapping of the individual spectra. To make such IOFBs usable for information transmission, a calibration routine to match input and output of the bundle is necessary. The aim of the present work is to establish a calibration routine for densely packed IOFBs with a single fiber core diameter of 23 μm. A HeNe laser focused to illuminate only one single fiber at a time is forming the basis of the experimental setup. An image of the output side is taken, the respective brightness peak is detected and its coordinates are stored in a look-up table (LUT) to allow the fiber bundle input to be reconstructed from its signal output. Several validation and calibration steps have been established to ensure a reliable fiber assignment. In a test run, 94.3% of the 1,374 fibers of the bundle used for proof of concept could be assigned exactly and used for image transmission.
KEYWORDS: Photoacoustic spectroscopy, Monte Carlo methods, Sensors, Acoustics, Remote sensing, Reconstruction algorithms, 3D modeling, Photoacoustic tomography, Signal detection, Algorithm development
Remote photoacoustic tomography by speckle-analysis which is based on the measurement of the surface tilt is interesting for a lot of medical applications such as endoscopy or wound imaging. In this work, a new model which is capable to simulate the resulting surface tilt after photoacoustic excitation is presented. A Monte Carlo simulation is coupled to a stress simulation which allows the determination of the temporal surface deformation and the resulting tilt. A first comparison to experimental results from literature is done and discussed. In future, this model might help to optimize the speckle-sensing technique for photoacoustic signal detection. Furthermore, it could be used to develop and test image reconstruction algorithms.
Lasers have become a generally accepted tool for surgery due to their advantages compared to traditional approaches like the scalpel. However, lasers lack a feedback system for safe laser guidance. This problem prevents the potential laser application for a lot of medical cases in the clinical environment. In this work, a new tissue differentiation modality which might be implemented as a feedback system using remote speckle-sensing is presented. This modality is tested on three tissue types and the results are discussed.
The Er:YAG laser has gained significant interest in the field of oral surgery due to its high water absorptivity, precision and patient acceptance. However, its application is limited by the lack of a contact-free feedback system which would enable safe laser guidance. In this work, a potential new, robust feedback modality based on speckle-analysis is presented which detects the acoustic signals produced during laser surgery. Oral soft- and hard tissue samples are investigated ex-vivo for its differentiation capability using the speckle modality. This technique might help to broaden the clinical application of Er:YAG lasers.
For diagnostic imaging, a modality is required which has to be quick, inexpensive and noninvasive. Furthermore, risks for the patients have to be kept as low as possible since repetitive imaging might be required. To enable risk free imaging, hyper spectral imaging as tool for 3D tissue imaging is proposed to potentially meet all the above mentioned requirements. In this study, the first results of three dimensional reconstructions of hyper spectral images are presented. In general, the back reflected image consists of information from many different depths such that inclusions in different depths have a different effect on the back reflected images. Moreover, due to the wavelength dependent penetration depths, the spectral composition of the back reflected image changes in a different manner for different depths. This difference is normally not linear. However, due to a fine spectral resolution the difference can be assumed to be linear. The partial derivative of the wavelength is thus supposed to show the difference and allow the analysis. To demonstrate this, polyurethane phantoms are manufactured with TiO2 as scatterer and ink as absorber. The inclusions are simulated by drilling holes into the phantom. The phantoms are imaged with a hyper spectral camera with a resolution of 51x765x1450 voxel (x, y, λ) from 400 to 800 nm. The spectral resolution due to the aperture is about 3 nm. In this study, first results are presented and a qualitative depths reconstruction is demonstrated. It is possible to show which inclusion is deeper with respect to the other.
Photoacoustic Tomography combines the advantages of optical and acoustic imaging as it makes use of the high optical contrast of tissue and the high resolution of ultrasound. Furthermore, high penetration depths in tissue in the order of several centimeters can be achieved by the combination of these modalities. Extensive research is being done in the field of miniaturization of photoacoustic devices, as photoacoustic imaging could be of significant benefits for the physician during endoscopic interventions. All the existing miniature systems are based on contact transducers for signal detection that are placed at the distal end of an endoscopic device. This makes the manufacturing process difficult and impedance matching to the inspected surface a requirement. The requirement for contact limits the view of the physician during the intervention. Consequently, a fiber based non-contact optical sensing technique would be highly beneficial for the development of miniaturized photoacoustic endoscopic devices. This work demonstrates the feasibility of surface displacement detection using remote speckle-sensing using a high speed camera and an imaging fiber bundle that is used in commercially available video endoscopes. The feasibility of displacement sensing is demonstrated by analysis of phantom vibrations which are induced by loudspeaker membrane oscillations. Since the usability of the remote speckle-sensing for photo-acoustic signal detection was already demonstrated, the fiber bundle approach demonstrates the potential for non-contact photoacoustic detections during endoscopy.
Coherent light propagating through turbid media is attenuated due to scattering and absorption. The decrease of the intensity of the coherent light is described by the attenuation coefficient. The measured decay of the coherent light through turbid media with optical coherence tomography (OCT) can be used to reconstruct the attenuation coefficient. Since most of the OCT systems work in the near-infrared region, they are the optical window from 800-1400 nm in tissue. Hence, the most part of the attenuation coefficient is caused due to the scattering. Therefore, deriving the attenuation coefficient is one way to get an approximation of the scattering coefficient which is difficult to access even up to day. Moreover, OCT measurements are one of the few possibilities to derive physical properties with micrometre resolution of the media under investigation.
To provide clinically relevant insights into the device performance of an optical imaging approach to reconstruct the superficial cutaneous micro-circulation (skin angiography), a phantom device with turbid matrix and perfusable micro-vessels is essential. In this work, we describe a novel microfluidic-based device to mimic the micro-vessels and the turbid nature of the epidermis and dermis. This phantom device contains a hollow assay with a diameter of the channels of 50 μm. The hollow assay includes the geometry of the inlet, the river-like assay, and the outlet, which can be perfused by e.g. meta-hemoglobin solution. This imitates the superficial micro-circulation in the skin. The absorption coefficient μa and the reduced scattering coefficient μs' are adjusted to match those of skin. As an application case, we attempt to reconstruct a 2-D velocity field of the hemoglobin flow in the scattering microfluidic device via the Doppler-mode of an OCT.
Rajesh Kanawade, Benjamin Lengenfelder, Tassiana Marini Menezes, Martin Hohmann, Stefan Kopfinger, Tim Hohmann, Urszula Grabiec, Florian Klämpfl, Jean Gonzales Menezes, Maximilian Waldner, Michael Schmidt
Optical-coherence tomography (OCT) is a promising non-invasive, high-resolution imaging modality which can be used for cancer diagnosis and its therapeutic assessment. However, speckle noise makes detection of cancer boundaries and image segmentation problematic and unreliable. Therefore, to improve the image analysis for a precise cancer border detection, the performance of different image processing algorithms such as mean, median, hybrid median filter and rotational kernel transformation (RKT) for this task is investigated. This is done on OCT images acquired from an ex-vivo human cancerous mucosa and in vitro by using cultivated tumour applied on organotypical hippocampal slice cultures. The preliminary results confirm that the border between the healthy and the cancer lesions can be identified precisely. The obtained results are verified with fluorescence microscopy. This research can improve cancer diagnosis and the detection of borders between healthy and cancerous tissue. Thus, it could also reduce the number of biopsies required during screening endoscopy by providing better guidance to the physician.
An imging resolution of micron-scale has not yet been discovered by diffuse optical imaging (DOI), while a superficial response was eliminated. In this work, we report on a new approach of DOI with a local off-set alignment to subvert the common boundary conditions of the modified Beer-Lambert Law (MBLL). It can resolve a superficial target in micron scale under a turbid media. To validate both major breakthroughs, this system was used to recover a subsurface microvascular mimicking structure under an skin equivalent phantom. This microvascular was included with oxy-hemoglobin solution in variant concentrations to distiguish the absolute values of CtRHb and CtHbO2 . Experimental results confirmed the feasibility of recovering the target vascular of 50 µm in diameter, and graded the values of the concentrations of oxy-hemoglobin from 10 g/L to 50 g/L absolutely. Ultimately, this approach could evolve into a non-invasive imaging system to map the microvascular pattern and the associated oximetry under a human skin in-vivo.
American and European statistics have shown that 1-2 per cent of the human population is affected by the skin disease psoriasis. Recent research reports promising treatment results when irradiating skin areas affected by psoriasis with high powered excimer lasers with a wavelength of 308 nm. In order to apply the necessary high energy dose without hurting healthy parts of the skin new approaches regarding the system technology must be considered. The aim of the current research project is the development of a sensor-based, automated laser treatment system for psoriasis. In this paper we present the algorithms used to cope with the diffculties of irradiating irregularly shaped areas on curved surfaces with a predefined energy level using a pulsed laser. Patients prefer the treatment to take as little time as possible. This also helps to reduce costs. Thus the distribution of laser pulses on the surface to achieve the given energy level on every point of the surface has to be calculated within a limited time frame. The remainder of the paper will describe in detail an efficient method to plan and optimize the laser pulse distribution. Towards the end, some first results will be presented.
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