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Medical optical imaging

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Medical optical imaging is the use of light as an investigational imaging technique for medical applications, pioneered by American Physical Chemist Britton Chance. Examples include optical microscopy, spectroscopy, endoscopy, scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, laser Doppler imaging, optical coherence tomography, and transdermal optical imaging. Because light is an electromagnetic wave, similar phenomena occur in X-rays, microwaves, and radio waves.

Optical imaging systems may be divided into diffusive[1][2] and ballistic imaging[3] systems. A model for photon migration in turbid biological media has been developed by Bonner et al.[2] Such a model can be applied for interpretation data obtained from laser Doppler blood-flow monitors and for designing protocols for therapeutic excitation of tissue chromophores.

Diffusive optical imaging

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Diffuse optical imaging (DOI) is a method of imaging using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) [4] or fluorescence-based methods.[5] When used to create 3D volumetric models of the imaged material DOI is referred to as diffuse optical tomography, whereas 2D imaging methods are classified as diffuse optical topography.

The technique has many applications to neuroscience, sports medicine, wound monitoring, and cancer detection. Typically DOI techniques monitor changes in concentrations of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin and may additionally measure redox states of cytochromes. The technique may also be referred to as diffuse optical tomography (DOT), near infrared optical tomography (NIROT) or fluorescence diffuse optical tomography (FDOT), depending on the usage.

In neuroscience, functional measurements made using NIR wavelengths, DOI techniques may classify as functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

Ballistic optical imaging

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Ballistic photons are the light photons that travel through a scattering (turbid) medium in a straight line. Also known as ballistic light. If laser pulses are sent through a turbid medium such as fog or body tissue, most of the photons are either randomly scattered or absorbed. However, across short distances, a few photons pass through the scattering medium in straight lines. These coherent photons are referred to as ballistic photons. Photons that are slightly scattered, retaining some degree of coherence, are referred to as snake photons.

If efficiently detected, there are many applications for ballistic photons especially in coherent high resolution medical imaging systems. Ballistic scanners (using ultrafast time gates) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) (using the interferometry principle) are just two of the popular imaging systems that rely on ballistic photon detection to create diffraction-limited images. Advantages over other existing imaging modalities (e.g., ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging) is that ballistic imaging can achieve a higher resolution in the order of 1 to 10 micro-meters, however it has limited imaging depth. Furthermore, more scattered 'quasi-ballistic' photons are often measured as well to increase the signal 'strength' (i.e., signal-to-noise ratio).

Due to the exponential reduction (with respect to distance) of ballistic photons in a scattering medium, often image processing techniques are applied to the raw captured ballistic images, to reconstruct high quality ones. Ballistic imaging modalities aim to reject non-ballistic photons and retain ballistic photons that carry useful information. To perform this task, specific characteristics of ballistic photons vs. non-ballistic photons are used, such as time of flight through coherence gated imaging, collimation, wavefront propagation, and polarization.[6]

Photoacoustic Imaging

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Photoacoustic imaging (also known as optoacoustic imaging) is a hybrid modality that combines high optical contrast with the high spatial resolution of ultrasound. It relies on the photoacoustic effect, where absorbed laser pulses induce a transient thermoelastic expansion, generating ultrasonic waves. Since ultrasound scatters significantly less than light in biological tissue, PAI can achieve high-resolution imaging at depths (up to several centimeters) that exceed the limits of ballistic optical imaging. Major applications include vascular imaging, functional brain mapping, and tumor characterization based on hemoglobin oxygenation levels. [7][8]

Contrast agents and molecular imaging

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Beyond endogenous contrast from molecules such as hemoglobin, melanin, and water, medical optical imaging often employs exogenous contrast agents to enhance sensitivity and specificity. Molecular imaging probes, such as fluorescent dyes (e.g., Indocyanine green), nanoparticles, and targeted antibodies, can be used to visualize specific molecular markers of disease at the cellular level. This allows for earlier diagnosis and personalized treatment monitoring by providing information on biological processes before anatomical changes occur. [9]

Clinical Applications

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  • Ophthalmology: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has become the gold standard for diagnosing retinal diseases, such as macular degeneration and glaucoma, by providing cross-sectional micro-scale maps of the retina.
  • Oncology: Fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) utilizes optical contrast agents like Indocyanine green (ICG) or 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) to help surgeons identify tumor margins in real-time during neurosurgery and cancer resections.[10]
  • Gastroenterology: Advanced endoscopy, including confocal laser endomicroscopy, allows for "optical biopsies," enabling the detection of precancerous lesions at the cellular level without physical tissue removal.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Durduran T; et al. (2010). "Diffuse optics for tissue monitoring and tomography". Rep. Prog. Phys. 73 (7) 076701. Bibcode:2010RPPh...73g6701D. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/73/7/076701. PMC 4482362. PMID 26120204.
  2. ^ a b A. Gibson; J. Hebden; S. Arridge (2005). "Recent advances in diffuse optical imaging" (PDF). Phys. Med. Biol. 50 (4): R1–R43. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/50/4/r01. PMID 15773619. S2CID 23029891.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ S. Farsiu; J. Christofferson; B. Eriksson; P. Milanfar; B. Friedlander; A. Shakouri; R. Nowak (2007). "Statistical Detection and Imaging of Objects Hidden in Turbid Media Using Ballistic Photons" (PDF). Applied Optics. 46 (23): 5805–5822. Bibcode:2007ApOpt..46.5805F. doi:10.1364/ao.46.005805. PMID 17694130.
  4. ^ Durduran, T; et al. (2010). "Diffuse optics for tissue monitoring and tomography". Rep. Prog. Phys. 73 (7) 076701. Bibcode:2010RPPh...73g6701D. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/73/7/076701. PMC 4482362. PMID 26120204.
  5. ^ "Harvard.edu Diffuse Optical Imaging". Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  6. ^ Lihong V. Wang; Hsin-i Wu (26 September 2012). Biomedical Optics: Principles and Imaging. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-0-470-17700-6.
  7. ^ Wang, Lihong V.; Hu, Song (2012-03-23). "Photoacoustic Tomography: In Vivo Imaging from Organelles to Organs". Science. 335 (6075): 1458–1462. doi:10.1126/science.1216210. ISSN 0036-8075.
  8. ^ Beard, Paul (2011-06-22). "Biomedical photoacoustic imaging". Interface Focus. 1 (4): 602–631. doi:10.1098/rsfs.2011.0028. ISSN 2042-8898.
  9. ^ Ntziachristos, V. (August 2006). "Going deeper than microscopy: the optical imaging frontier in biology". Nature Methods. 3 (8): 603–614. doi:10.1038/nmeth907.
  10. ^ Vahrmeijer, Alexander L.; Hutteman, Merlijn; van der Vorst, Joost R.; van de Velde, Cornelis J. H.; Frangioni, John V. (2013-07-23). "Image-guided cancer surgery using near-infrared fluorescence". Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. 10 (9): 507–518. doi:10.1038/nrclinonc.2013.123. ISSN 1759-4774.
  11. ^ Nanda, Shreeya (October 2010). "Confocal laser endomicroscopy enables in vivo VEGF imaging". Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 7 (10): 533–533. doi:10.1038/nrgastro.2010.145. ISSN 1759-5045.
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A recently published article found a novel advancement in optical imaging to reduce the effects of unwanted light scattering (Ou et al., 2024). A common food dye called tartrazine was topically applied to mice for visualization of internal structures such as the abdominal organs, the structure of sarcomere, and cerebral blood vessels. Tartrazine is a highly absorbing dye that allows optical transparency to be achieved by matching the refractive index of proteins and lipids found in biological tissues when dissolved in water. Ultimately, this technique reduces light scattering to allow visualization of in vivo structures.

References: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm6869#M1

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