THz imaging of acute burn wounds

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的目标是开发一种基于太赫兹和近红外照明的组织水化成像系统，以在空间和时间上绘制烧伤创面的水化状态，并将这些测量结果与烧伤严重程度相关联。烧伤严重程度通常是通过外科医生的视觉和触觉反馈来评估的，诊断的准确性根据临床表现和外科医生的经验而有很大差异。在许多烧伤中心，通过激光多普勒成像（LDI）和重要染料系统测量烧伤创面血液灌注来进行补充评估。这些技术基于血液灌注，由于对烧伤的反应不断变化，不能立即评估烧伤伤口的严重程度。这一限制阻碍了这些技术在受伤后48小时内的应用，导致最佳治疗的延迟。我们小组在大鼠身上获得的初步体内结果表明，通过太赫兹和近红外照明获得的水合成像可以在受伤后的最初几个小时内提供无创评估烧伤严重程度的信息。这些信息可以使烧伤外科医生快速区分部分和全层损伤。太赫兹和近红外照明对眼睛是安全的，具有非常低的光子能量，并且对继发于水肿的水合变化极其敏感，这是组织对热损伤反应的一部分。这项研究将从一个扫描光束的构建开始，太赫兹成像系统能够在不到30秒的时间内对10厘米× 10厘米的平方区域进行非接触成像。将开发一种可调谐到水的峰值吸收波长的配套近红外成像系统并用于比较。我们还将提供有关伤口水化的额外信息。第二年将包括在大鼠（N = 20）中进行广泛的动物实验，这些成像系统对烧伤严重程度诊断的能力将根据临床和组织病理学诊断进行评估。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is to develop a tissue hydration imaging system based on THz and NIR illumination to spatially and temporally map the hydration state of burn wounds and correlate these measurements with burn severity. Burn severity is typically assessed with visual and tactile feedback from the surgeon and diagnostic accuracy varies widely based on the clinical presentation and the surgeon's experience. In a large number of burn centers complementary assessments are made by burn wound blood perfusion measured with Laser Doppler Imaging (LDI) and vital dye based systems. These techniques are based on blood perfusion and do not provide immediate assessment of burn wound severity due to the evolving response to the burn injury. This limitation prevents the use of these techniques during the first 48 hours following injury leading to a delay in optimal management. Preliminary in vivo results obtained by our group in rats suggest that hydration imaging acquired with THz and NIR illumination may provide information to non-invasively assess burn severity within the first few hours of injury. This information may allow the burn surgeon to rapidly differentiate between partial and full thickness injury. THz and NIR illumination are eye safe, have very low photon energy, and are extremely sensitive to hydration changes secondary to edema which is part of the tissue response to thermal injury. This study will begin with the construction of a scanned beam, THz imaging system capable of non-contact, imaging of a 10 cm x 10 cm square area in less than 30 seconds. A companion NIR imaging system tuned to the peak absorption wavelength of water will be developed and used for comparison. We will also provide additional information regarding wound hydration. Year 2 will encompass extensive animal work in rats (N = 20) and the capability of these imaging systems for burn severity diagnosis will be evaluated against clinical and histopathological diagnosis.