Photomagnetic Imaging: A Novel Modality for Cancer Imaging

光磁成像：癌症成像的一种新方式在过去的几十年里，各种体内成像方式已经被开发出来，使用广泛的技术来获得所研究组织的结构、功能和分子信息。作为这些方式之一，光学成像可以提供功能信息，如血红蛋白浓度，还可以可视化外源性造影剂以及分子和功能标记。不幸的是，由于生物组织的高散射特性，光学成像的分辨率很低。虽然出现了像光声断层成像这样的新模式，可以提供更高分辨率的图像，但恢复参数的定量准确性仍然是主要问题之一。所有这些可用的光学成像技术的一个共同弱点是，它们只能从介质的边界获取数据。为了克服这一限制，我在本提案中的主要目标是开发一种全新的方法，“光磁成像”，它仍然使用激光加热被研究的介质，但使用MRI获得高分辨率的组织温度图。通过对组织中的光传播和热传递进行适当的建模，MR温度图将进一步转换为光学吸收图。我的假设是，光磁成像技术将提供定量上更准确和更高分辨率的图像，因为从整个被研究的介质中获取数据，从而改善了反问题的欠定条件。这一训练建议是针对这种小动物运动成像模式的首次体内可行性研究。如果成功，结果将是一种新的成像模式的开始。由于使用了临床磁共振扫描仪，这项技术将具有立即的临床转化潜力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Photomagnetic Imaging: A Novel Modality for Cancer Imaging In the last decades, variety of in vivo imaging modalities have been developed using a broad spectrum of technologies to obtain structural, functional, and molecular information about the tissue under investigation. As one of these modalities, optical imaging can provide functional information such as hemoglobin concentration and also visualize exogenous contrast agents as well as molecular and functional markers. Unfortunately, optical imaging suffers from low resolution due to highly scattering nature of the biological tissue. Although, there are new emerging modalities like photo-acoustic tomography that can provide higher resolution images, quantitative accuracy of the recovered parameters still remains as one of the main issues. One common weakness of all these available optical imaging techniques is that they are capable of acquiring data only from the boundary of the medium. To overcome this limitation, my main goal in this proposal is to develop an entirely new approach, "Photo-magnetic imaging", which still uses laser light to heat the medium under investigation but employ MRI to obtain the temperature map of the tissue with high resolution. The MR temperature maps will further be converted into the optical absorption maps using proper modeling of light propagation and heat transfer in tissue. My hypothesis is that the photo-magnetic imaging technique will provide quantitatively more accurate and higher resolution images due to acquisition of data from the whole medium under investigation that improves the underdetermined condition of the inverse problem. This training proposal is geared toward the first in vivo feasibility studies of this nove imaging modality using small animals. If successful, the outcome will be the beginning of a new imaging modality. Due to the utilization of a clinical MR scanner, this technique will have immediate clinical translation potential.