Multiscale confocal photoacoustic dermoscopy to evaluate skin health

Abstract

Background: Photoacoustic dermoscopy (PAD) is a promising branch of photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) that can provide a range of functional and morphologic information for clinical assessment and diagnosis of dermatological conditions. However, most PAM setups are unsuitable for clinical dermatology because their single-scale mode and narrow frequency band result in insufficient imaging depth or poor spatiotemporal resolution when visualizing the internal texture of the skin. Methods:We developed a multiscale confocal photoacoustic dermoscopy (MC-PAD) with a multifunction opto-sono objective that could achieve high quality dermatological imaging. Using the objective to coordinate the spatial resolution and penetration depth, the MC-PAD was used to visualize pathophysiological biomarkers and vascular morphology from the epidermis (EP) to the dermis, which enabled us to quantify skin abnormalities without using exogenous contrast agents for human skin. Results:The MC-PAD was shown to have the ability to differentiate between different types of cells (such as red blood cells and melanoma cells), image and quantify pigment of the skin, and visualize skin morphology and blood capillary landmarks. The MC-PAD detected a significant difference in the structures of some pigmented and vascular lesions of skin diseases compared with that of healthy skin (P<0.01). The café au lait macule (CALM) skin type was found to have a relatively higher melanin concentration and thicker stratum basale (SB) in the EP than healthy skin. The dermal vascular network of skin that had a port wine stain (PWS) had greater diameters and a denser distribution than healthy skin, as reported in clinical trials. Conclusions:The MC-PAD has a broad range of applications for the diagnosis of human skin diseases and evaluation of the curative effect of treatments, and it can offer new perspectives in biomedical sciences.

Visualization of Microcirculation at Acupoints in vivo of Alzheimer’s Disease Animal Model with Photoacoustic Microscope: A Pilot Study

“…Therefore, photoacoustic microscopy imaging systems are usually divided into two types based on the type of focal point: acoustic resolution PAM (AR-PAM) and optical resolution PAM (OR-PAM) [ 68 ]. In the above two systems, AR-PAM has explored various biomedical information [ 69 ], such as microvascular networks and internal organ structure imaging in anatomical imaging, oxygen saturation, hemodynamic processes, and vasodilation in functional imaging, and has also conducted many studies in fields such as cardiovascular disease [ 59, 70, 71 ], cerebrovascular disease [ 72–76 ], dermatology [ 77–79 ], and oncology [ 80–83 ].…”

Photoacoustic imaging for cutaneous melanoma assessment: a comprehensive review

“…Our primary source was Google Scholar, which yielded 12,300 total results. Of the 12,300 results, 102 studies 103 , 109 , 113 , 115 – 117 , 132 – 140 , 165 – 245 met our criteria and are reviewed here.…”

4D spectral-spatial computational photoacoustic dermoscopy

“…), PAD can provide clinical practitioners with high-contrast and high-resolution morphological, functional, and pathological information of the skin, which has great potential in biomedical research and clinical applications [8] . In recent years, several PAD systems have been developed for imaging melanoma [9] , [10] , café-au-lait macules [11] , psoriasis [12] , and skin blood vessels [13] , [14] , [15] . Despite the progress made in PAD research, there is still a lack of research on realistic modeling of the optical and acoustic properties of multilayered skin tissues for the quantitative accuracy of reconstructed PAD images caused by the wavelength and distribution of the excitation light, and the acoustic properties of the ultrasound transducer.…”