光声成像在关节炎性病变中的潜在临床应用价值

The Potential Value of Photoacoustic Imaging in the Assessment of Inflammatory Changes of Joints

关节炎性疾病发病率逐年升高,给社会经济造成了巨大负担,其早期诊治具有重要意义。光声成像是一种新型光学影像技术,结合了光显像和超声波接收转换的优点,可对关节开展形态学、微血管及功能成像,并可通过外源性造影剂实现分子成像。近10年来,研究人员开发了一系列光声成像仪器,包括独立光声断层成像系统、多模态影像系统等,针对关节炎性疾病开展了动物实验和人体试验,证实其在关节炎性疾病诊断中的价值,其中配备手持光声探头的一体化双模态光声/超声成像系统易于临床转化,有较好的发展前景。

This decade has witnessed a growing prevalence of chronic arthritis all around the world.Early diagnosis of arthritis can be essential for timely treatment and a better prognosis.Photoacoustic imaging(PAI),a multi-functional imaging technique,has been applied for visualizing morphological structures of peripheral joints and small vessels in small joints.Blood oxygenation and other perfusion indexes can also be calculated by PAI,allowing functional evaluation of joint tissues.The exogenous photoacoustic contrast agent that is targeted at some specific molecular biomarkers enables molecular imaging with the use of photoacoustic modalities.Several photoacoustic computed tomography(PACT)modalities have been developed for joint imaging,including some dual-modality systems,which integrate a photoacoustic system with other imaging methods.Taking advantage of the stability and maturity of commercial US units,the co-registration of photoacoustic and ultrasound(PA/US)systems with a portable probe can be an essential step for future clinical translation and promotion.This kind of dual-modal imaging system takes the advantage of compactness and high cost-efficiency of commercial ultrasound systems,and permits noninvasive real-time PA/US imaging simultaneously.The feasi-bility of this type of dual-modality PA/US system in the evaluation of joint disease has been explored and validated by recent studies.Moreover,exogenous contrast agents can facilitate molecular PAI in arthritis by binding specific molecules to those photoacoustic dyes,enabling visualizing inflammatory changes of local joints and delivering therapeutic agents for treating arthritis.Currently,researchers are making efforts to eliminate reflection artifacts,and to enhance the quality and speed of PAI acquisition for diagnosing inflammatory arthritis.