Precision of handheld multispectral optoacoustic tomography for muscle imaging

Multispectral optoacoustic tomography for non-invasive disease phenotyping in pediatric spinal muscular atrophy patients

“…In this study, higher optoacoustic signals of SWL 800 nm indicated milder phenotype or higher scores in HFMSE or RULM standard clinical testing. In addition, the present study confirmed good to excellent repeatability of MSOT measurements in children, comparable to previous findings in adults [35] . This highlights the promising potential for observational or interventional longitudinal studies in children and adolescents with neuromuscular disorders [36] , [37] .…”

“…In contrast to other imaging modalities, MSOT has short scanning times comparable to standard ultrasound investigations [48] , does not require ionizing radiation and produces quantitative measures. In turn, these modalities currently have limited penetration depths of approximately 2.5 cm from skin surface [35] . In our pediatric SMA patients no correlation between photoacoustic signal and penetration was found, which we attribute to the relatively small patient cohort.…”

Optoacoustic Imaging in Inflammation

“…The technology reliably measures OA signals with minimal error and excellent intra- and inter-operator agreement [ 136 ]. Similar to gastrointestinal applications, this first-in-human study frames the idea that it is possible to image late-stage chronic degenerative and inflammatory processes driven by fibrosis with OAI.…”

“…Until now, penetration depths have still been limited to a few centimeters (up to ~7 cm), which limits the imaging of organs at depth, especially in patients with a high body mass index (BMI). However, not only increased body fat, but also the natural heterogenous fat distribution in different genders is a limiting factor [ 136 ]. OA endoscopy approaches may bypass this depth limitation in some scenarios.…”

“…A topic currently under investigation is the standardization of OAI measurements, especially in quantitative measurements for clinical applications [ 139 , 140 ]. Even though there is evidence for repeatable and stable OAI measurements over time [ 136 ], their use is still far from clinical “routine”. To aid clinical translation, the clinician would also require more intuitive approaches to interpret optoacoustic images, preferably together with sufficient familiar anatomical information.…”