CAREER: Technical & Theoretical Foundations for Photoacoustic-Guided Surgery

目前进行的心脏、脊柱和脑部手术在一定程度上对患者特异性皮下解剖结构存在不确定性。例如，外科医生必须依靠知识和经验，以避免关键的神经和血管，如果受伤，将导致患者死亡或终身瘫痪。所提出的工作将为快速开发和部署新型光声成像系统奠定技术和理论基础，从而克服现代手术的现有限制。具体来说，我们将通过定义光声引导手术的三个基本限制来解决挑战：(1)尽可能靠近手术部位的激光安全限制，(2)基于相干波束形成理论的图像质量限制，以及(3)将光声成像系统与机器人集成以进行微创手术时的分辨率限制。相关教育计划的三个核心支柱（视频、现场演示和指导）协同融合了拟议的研究与教育目标。对K-12课堂和在家上学的儿童的推广包括实践研究演示、在线课程视频，以及开发一个名为“邻家学者”的邻里视频系列，以首席研究员（PI）和她的研究团队为特色，以激励年轻女性和其他未被充分代表的少数群体，如PI。与约翰霍普金斯大学（JHU）教育推广中心（CEO）合作，将以在线视频形式开发新的生物医学工程课程材料，以增强CEO现有的工程基础课程。对于高级学生和学员，将在本研究建立的基础上开发新的课程材料和课堂演示。PI一直致力于为女性和未被充分代表的少数族裔学者提供一对一的指导，她将在整个职业生涯中继续保持这一承诺。本CAREER提案的研究目标是应用光学分析、空间相干理论和独立分辨率模型来描述手术过程中基于光声导航的基本性能限制。这一目标将通过三个研究目标来实现。首先（目标1），将根据理论分析和实验的综合结果，确定目前不存在的光传输到骨骼、心脏和脑组织的限制。其次（目标2），将改进和验证新的声波束形成和信号处理方法，以描述基于光声的空间相干波束形成理论的图像质量限制。第三（目标3），将探索一种新的组合分辨率模型，以预测使用达芬奇机器人作为初始试验台的集成机器人-光声成像系统的精度极限。这项研究产生的新知识将支持光学、声学和机器人辅助医学成像等其他领域的研究。研究结果将通过“隔壁的学者”系列视频与公众分享，并通过会议演讲和期刊出版物与科学界分享。作为一名非裔美国女教授，PI在她的整个职业生涯中受益于外展项目，她致力于K-12、大学和研究生层次的多元化努力。她将协助约翰霍普金斯大学（JHU）怀廷工程学院（WSE）的多元化工作，例如在全国黑人工程师协会（NSBE）全国大会上招募研究生，并担任CS和ECE （GRACE）研究生协会（女性）的指导老师。她将与JHU教育推广中心（CEO）合作，制作“邻家学者”系列的第一个视频，并以在线视频形式为他们现有的工程基础课程提供新的生物医学工程课程材料。她还将指导一个实验室团队，以增强她所在部门和整个WSE的多样性。

Surgeries of the heart, spine, and brain are currently performed with some degree of uncertainty about patient-specific subsurface anatomy. For example, the surgeon must rely on knowledge and experience to avoid critical nerves and blood vessels that, if injured, will cause patient death or lifelong paralysis. The proposed work will set the technical and theoretical foundations for rapid development and deployment of a new class of photoacoustic imaging systems that overcome this existing limitation of modern surgeries. Specifically, we will address challenges with defining three fundamental limits to photoacoustic-guided surgery: (1) laser safety limits for light delivery as close to the surgical site as possible, (2) image quality limits derived from coherence-based beamforming theory, and (3) resolution limits when integrating photoacoustic imaging systems with robots for minimally invasive surgical access. Three core pillars of the associated education plan (videos, live demonstrations, and mentorship) synergistically fuse the proposed research with educational goals. Outreach to K-12 classroom-based and home-schooled children includes hands-on research demonstrations, online course videos, and the development of a neighbor-like video series entitled "The Scholar Next Door'', featuring the Principal Investigator (PI) and her research team to inspire young women and other underrepresented minorities like the PI. In partnership with the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Center for Educational Outreach (CEO), new biomedical engineering course material will be developed in an online video format to enhance the CEO's existing Engineering FUNdamentals Program. For advanced students and trainees, new course material and classroom demonstrations will be developed to build upon the foundations established by this research. The PI has a strong history of commitment to one-on-one mentoring of women and underrepresented minority scholars, and she will continue to maintain this commitment throughout her career.The research objective of this CAREER proposal is to apply optical analyses, spatial coherence theory, and independent resolution models to describe fundamental performance limits of photoacoustic-based navigation during surgery. This objective will be achieved with three research aims. First (Aim 1), the currently nonexistent limits of light delivery to bone, heart, and brain tissues will be defined, based on the combined results of theoretical analyses and experimentation. Second (Aim 2), novel acoustic beamformers and signal processing methods will be refined and validated to describe the image quality limits of photoacoustic-based spatial coherence beamforming theory. Third (Aim 3), a new combined resolution model will be explored to predict the accuracy limits of integrated robotic-photoacoustic imaging systems using the da Vinci robot as an initial testbed. The new knowledge generated by this research will support research in other areas of optical, acoustic, and robot-assisted medical imaging. Results will be shared with the general public through "The Scholar Next Door" video series and with the scientific community through conference presentations and journal publications. As an African American female professor, the PI has benefited from outreach programs throughout her career, and she is devoted to diversity efforts at the K-12, collegiate, and graduate levels. She will assist with the diversity efforts of the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Whiting School of Engineering (WSE), such as recruitment of graduate students at the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) national convention and serving as faculty advisor to the Graduate Association [of women] in CS & ECE (GRACE). She will partner with the JHU Center for Educational Outreach (CEO) to create the first video in "The Scholar Next Door" series and to contribute new biomedical engineering course material in an online video format to their existing Engineering FUNdamentals Program. She will also mentor a laboratory team that enhances diversity in her department and throughout the entire WSE.