Optoacoustic imaging, a novel noninvasive modality, combines the advantages of optical methods and the ultrasound
technique. The optoacoustic technique is based on tissue irradiation with nanosecond laser pulses and detection of ultrasound waves generated due to thermo-elastic expansion. Using a modified Monte Carlo technique and solution of wave equation for velocity potential, we modeled optoacoustic signals from cylindrical blood vessels with varying oxygenation and varying total hemoglobin concentration. A specially designed computer code was used for reconstruction of images of absorbed energy in the blood vessels and surrounding tissues. Then we performed a set of experiments with our optoacoustic system and phantoms that simulate blood vessels such as veins and arteries at depths of up to 2 cm. The optoacoustic signals from the phantoms were used for reconstruction of 2-D cross-section images and
correlated well with geometry and optical properties of the phantoms. The obtained data suggest that the developed optoacoustic imaging approach can be used for accurate mapping of blood oxygenation and hemoglobin concentration in blood vessels.
Continuous monitoring of cerebral blood oxygenation is critically important for treatment of patients with life-threatening conditions like severe brain injury or during cardiac surgery. We designed and built a novel multiwavelength optoacoustic system for noninvasive, continuous, and accurate monitoring of cerebral blood oxygenation. We use an Optical Parametric Oscillator as a light source. We successfully tested the system in vitro as well as in vivo in large animals (sheep) through thick tissues overlying blood vessels which drain venous blood out of the brain (e.g., superior sagittal sinus or jugular vein). Here we present the results of clinical tests of the system for continuous noninvasive cerebral blood oxygenation monitoring in the internal jugular vein of healthy volunteers. We applied our custom-built optoacoustic probe (which incorporated a wide-band acoustic transducer and an optical fiber) to the neck area overlying the internal jugular vein. We performed measurements with volunteers at 18 wavelengths in the near-infrared spectral range. Despite a thick layer of overlying connective tissue and low energy used in the experiments, we recorded signals with high signal-to-noise ratios for all volunteers. We found that the temporal (independent of signal amplitude) parameters of recorded profiles for different levels of blood oxygenation correlated well with the spectrum of effective attenuation coefficients of blood.
We proposed and have been developing real-time, noninvasive monitoring of blood oxygenation, total hemoglobin concentration, and thermotherapy including hyperthermia, coagulation, and cryotherapy. In this paper we propose to use the optoacoustic technique for monitoring of nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy (NPT) of tumors. NPT is based on heating exogenous strongly-absorbing nanoparticles selectively delivered in tumors. Real-time monitoring of NPT is necessary for precise tumor therapy with minimal damage to normal tissues. In this study we injected PEGylated and non-PEGylated carbon nanoparticles in nude mice bearing human tumors (5-15 mm) and irradiated the tumors for 10 minutes with nanosecond Nd:YAG laser pulses which produced both thermal damage to the tumors and optoacoustic signals for monitoring NPT in real time. Irradiation of tumors was performed during or after (3 or 24 hours) nanoparticle injection. Amplitude and temporal parameters of optoacoustic signals (measured with a custom-made wide-band optoacoustic probe) correlated well with nanoparticle injection, temperature rise in tumors, and tumor coagulation. Substantial thermal damage in large areas of the tumors was produced when optimal irradiation parameters were used. Monte Carlo modeling of light distribution in tumors and optoacoustic theory were applied to study kinetics of nanoparticle concentration in the tumors. Our results demonstrated that the optoacoustic technique can be used for real-time monitoring of NTP and provide precise tumor therapy with minimal damage to normal tissues.
There is a pressing need for noninvasive methods for continuous monitoring of total hemoglobin concentration ([THb]) in blood. We proposed to use an optoacoustic technique for noninvasive [THb] measurement by probing of arteries or veins. In our previous work we demonstrated that our optoacoustic system is capable of detecting signals from the radial artery with high resolution, contrast, and signal-to-noise ratio. In clinical studies, we confirmed the ability of our system to monitor [THb] changes continuously, noninvasively, and in real time. However, absolute measurements of [THb] with high accuracy must account for blood vessel diameter. We designed and built a new broadband optoacoustic transducer that detected both the anterior and posterior (back) walls of blood vessels with high resolution. The optoacoustic signals from our radial artery phantom (silicon tube with a diameter of 1.6 mm filled with arterial sheep blood and immersed in 0.625% Intralipid solution) contained a distinct peak from the back wall of the tube. The characteristic parameters derived from the signals (the amplitude and the derivative of the normalized signal near the back wall) proved to be linearly dependent on [THb] in the physiological range. We also tested our modified system in vivo in radial arteries of healthy volunteers. The posterior walls of the arteries were well resolved, permitting accurate measurement of vessel diameter. The characteristic parameters of the signals were compared to those of signals from blood obtained for close tube diameter and various THb concentrations. The [THb] values derived from the in vivo measured optoacoustic signals were close to invasively measured ones.
Continuous monitoring of cerebral blood oxygenation is critically important for successful treatment of patients with severe traumatic brain injury. At present, the techniques for monitoring blood oxygenation are invasive. Recently we proposed noninvasive monitoring of cerebral blood oxygenation by using optoacoustic probing of blood circulating in the internal jugular vein (IJV). A major source of error in the optoacoustic measurement with a single-element optoacoustic probe is the spatial misalignment between the probe and the IJV. We built a LabView®-based scanning system that automatically moves our optoacoustic probe across the IJV while continuously taking measurements. Automatic signal processing determines the signal with the best probe-vessel alignment which then is used for further processing. The scanning system was tested in phantoms using solutions with different absorption coefficients and with blood with various levels of blood oxygenation. Amplitudes and profiles of the optoacoustic signals recorded from the phantoms closely followed the blood oxygenation changes in accordance with blood optical properties. These data indicate that the scanning system is capable of improving the accuracy of non-invasive monitoring of blood oxygenation by minimizing errors associated with lateral misalignment of the probe with respect to blood vessels.
We present a rapid, robust method of signal processing useful for optoacoustic monitoring of total hemoglobin concentration ([THb]) and oxygen saturation level in small blood vessels. Our method includes the wavelet-based regularization of the difference operator which is a typical discrete approximation of the derivative. The optimal degree of regularization is defined by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We applied the proposed method to Monte Carlo-modeled signals from a cylinder simulating the human radial artery (diameter 1.6 mm, depth from skin 2 mm, and [THb] varied in a wide range from 4 - 16 g/dL). We obtained N-shaped signals and found that the maximum of the first derivative between the front and rear walls systematically correlates with the actual value of [THb]. We estimated the accuracy of [THb] reconstruction from the maximum of the first derivative as 0.32 ± 0.18 g/dL (mean value ± SD) at an SNR typical for our in vivo experiments at the wavelength of 1064 nm. We also demonstrated that the difference between the maxima of the first derivative of the signals obtained at 700 nm and 1000 nm depends on oxygen saturation level.
KEYWORDS: Signal attenuation, Blood, Arteries, Transducers, Blood vessels, Tissue optics, Signal detection, Skin, Monte Carlo methods, Numerical modeling
We modeled three-dimensional light distribution in the radial artery using geometrical parameters of this
blood vessel and optical parameters typical for blood in the near-infrared spectral range. The obtained
light distributions allowed for calculation of optoacoustic signals detected by transducers on the skin
surface. We then compared the calculated signals with optoacoustic signals experimentally measured
from tissue phantoms at different effective attenuation coefficients and obtained good correlation. Our
data suggest that the light distribution and optoacoustic signal modeling can be used in transducer design
and in optoacoustic signal processing for accurate measurement of blood parameters.
We propose an approach allowing significant reduction or even complete removal of artifacts that can appear in optoacoustic images acquired with limited number of transducers (missing detectors) due to incomplete data. In optoacoustic tomography the image is reconstructed from a set of acoustic transducers located on the surface of tissue irradiated by a laser. The rigorous solution of the tomographic problem requires covering of the entire surface of the illuminated volume by an array of transducers. However, in practice, only portion of the surface is available. As a result of data incompleteness, artifacts (usually looking like arc-shaped shadows extending from the bright objects) can appear. These artifacts limit the spatial resolution, degrade the image contrast and distort shapes of the reconstructed objects. The results of the numerical simulation, presented in this work, show that the intensity and the shape of the “arc-shadow” artifacts depend on the surface area of uncovered by the acoustic detectors. The cause of the artifacts appearance is the violation of the absorbed energy conservation by the image reconstruction algorithm. Such explanation of this fact represents a key for removal of these artifacts. As presented in the paper, the intensity of the artifacts could be reduced by partial restoration of the missed transducers. In case of sufficient a priori information about number of objects, the proposed algorithm can be considered as the interpolation/extrapolation of the data or substitution of the missed signal by averaged real signal taking into account energy conservation. In a common case, the signals of virtual transducers are restored from the distorted image using the solution of the wave equation. Then the cleaned image is reconstructed from the complete set of signals combining real and virtual transducers. These operations can be repeated iteratively until artifacts become weak. The accuracy of the image reconstruction depends on the number of absent transducers, i.e. portion of the surface area uncovered by the detectors.
A new method for reconstruction of optoacoustic images is proposed. The method of image reconstruction incorporates multiresolution wavelet filtering into spherical back-projection algorithm. According to our method, each optoacoustic signal detected with an array of ultrawide-band transducers is decomposed into a set of self-similar wavelets with different resolution (characteristic frequency) and then back-projected along the spherical traces for each resolution scale separately. The advantage of this approach is that one can reconstruct objects of a preferred size or a range of sizes. The sum of all images reconstructed with different resolutions yields an image that visualizes small and large objects at once. An approximate speed of the proposed algorithm is of the same order as algorithm, based on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The accuracy of the proposed method is illustrated by images, which are reconstructed from simulated optoacoustic signals as well as signals measured with the Laser Optoacoustic Imaging System (LOIS) from a loop of blood vessel embedded in a gel phantom. The method can be used for contrast-enhanced optoacoustic imaging in the depth of tissue, i.e. for medical applications such as breast cancer or prostate cancer detection.
This paper presents a highly sensitive method of measuring mechanical strains. We combined the existing laser speckles technique and the new data-processing approach based on the wavelets. We have applied the directional continuous wavelet transform, which yields decompositions of image either in terms of dilation and rotation or time and rotation. In our study these properties of the wavelet transform have been used for evaluation of the spectral characteristics of speckle images and to track the dynamics of speckle motions.
Speckle-based strain measurements in biological tissues can be useful for many applications. In using the speckle strain gauge the goal is to observe and track speckles that are translating in both time and space as a result of an applied load. Usually, speckle images are processed with the FFT or the Radon transform. Here we have attempted to apply the novel technique of the Directional Continuous Wavelet Transform (DCWT) for image processing. This method yields two kinds of image decompositions 1) in terms of dilation scale and rotation angle (scale-angle representation) or 2) in terms of time and rotation angle (time-angle representation). In our study these properties of DCWT have been used to track the dynamics of speckle motions.
The wavelet tomography is used for statistical reconstruction of a lymphocyte nucleus for various diseases. The restored parameter is a probability density function (PDF) of radial distribution of condensed chromatin. In this content, PDF describes the cross-section of the nuclear structure of chromatin. Initial dat for reconstruction is the histogram of the chromatin granules, i.e. the number of granules versus the distance for the center of projection. This work is concerned with lymphocyte nuclei of peripheral blood for four groups of patients: control group; those who live in the area affected by the Chernobyl accident; mieloid group; leucose group. In contrast to the previous work, the new criteria of regularization is developed and used.
The experimental study of mechanical stress distribution in biological tissues in-vivo is of interest for some biomedical applications. This work considers the problem of light and stressed tissue interaction and the inverse problem of stress field reconstruction in 2D and 3D cases. Optical tomography is one of the most promising methods of solving these problems. This technique involves the reconstruction of the refractive index field using the measurement of waveform distortion. The reconstruction of stress field requires establishing the relation of the stress tensor to the variation of refraction index. A simple photoelastic model is a reasonable first approximation due to normal functioning of biological tissue. The simple photoelastic model is a reasonable first approximation due to normal functioning of biological tissue. The propagation equation that describes the light propagation through the optically active elastic media obtained in the solving of the forward problem in terms of geometric optics approach. Interferometric, shlieren and depolarization methods of experimental data acquisition are considered. In general, 3D state of a stressed tissue should be described by six components of the stress tensor, but only three propagation equations appear to be independent. To close the system of equations, we have used three partial differential equilibrium equations with appropriate boundary conditions. The system of equations of interferometric tomography is studied in detail. In this case, the separation of stress tensor components results from analytical solving in the Radon domain. For special case of 2D deformation we need only one propagation equation and two equilibrium equations. It is shown that 3D problem can not be reduced to 2D problem in the general case of tensor field tomography. This sends us in search of special 3D algorithms. The use of wavelets is one of perspective ways of tomographic reconstruction under strong noise. 2D and 3D algorithms of the inverse Radon transform through inverse wavelet transform in noisy conditions have been developed.
The role of boundary conditions for the correct formulation photoelasticity problems based on the restoration of tensor fields by means of optical tomography is presented in this article.
The problem of reconstruction of the local values for the symmetric stress tensor in transparent anisotropic media from the results of multiangle transillumination has been solved. This problem belongs to the class of inverse problems. The direct problems of light propagation in optically heterogeneous media with artificial anisotropy has been solved in order to formulate the complex inverse problem correctly.
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