Photoacoustic and Doppler ultrasound biomicroscopy for oxygen consumption estimation

将开发一种结合超声波和激光的新型高分辨率生物医学成像技术。激光脉冲进入组织后，被小血管吸收，就会产生听不见的声波。这些信号被用来形成组织光学特性的图像。这种技术被称为光声成像。就像动脉和静脉有不同的氧依赖颜色一样，光声成像对颜色和血液氧合很敏感。我们将把这种称为功能光声显微镜的成像技术与可以测量血流的多普勒超声相结合。这样做的目的是测量氧气在局部组织中消耗的速率。这对于大量的生物医学问题将是重要的，因为氧代谢与组织功能和功能障碍有关。许多疾病，如癌症、中风和心脏病，都改变了氧气的使用。这种成像技术是完全无创的，不需要特殊的造影剂，而且可能足够便宜和便携，可以在许多环境中使用，包括研究实验室、制药公司和医疗诊所。它可以帮助医生检测和治疗疾病，并可以让我们更好地了解疾病的进展。为了实现这一愿景，我们的研究团队将建立一个可以同时进行光声和多普勒超声成像的系统。我们将使用该系统提供有关组织光学特性的新信息，并测试该系统在受控幻影实验中测量氧气消耗的能力。

A new kind of high-resolution biomedical imaging technology will be developed that combines ultrasound and lasers. Pulses of laser light sent into tissue generate inaudible sound waves when the light is absorbed by small blood vessels. These signals are used to form images of the optical properties of the tissue. This technique is called photoacoustic imaging. Just as arteries & veins have different oxygen-dependent colors, photoacoustic imaging is sensitive to color & thus blood oxygenation. We will combine this imaging technique, termed functional photoacoustic microscopy, with Doppler ultrasound which can measure blood flow. The goal in doing this is to measure the rate at which oxygen is consumed in local tissues. This will be important for a large number of biomedical problems, since oxygen metabolism relates to tissue function and dysfunction. Oxygen usage is altered in many diseases such as cancer, stroke, and heart disease. The imaging technique is completely non-invasive, requires no special contrast agents & may be inexpensive enough and portable enough to be used in many settings including research laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, and medical clinics. It may help doctors detect and treat diseases, and may provide us with a better understanding of disease progression. To realize this vision, our research team will build a system that can perform both photoacoustic and Doppler ultrasound imaging. We will use this system to provide new informaton about the optical properties of tissues, and test the ability of the system to measure oxygen consumption in controlled phantom experiments.