Rinat Esenaliev
University of Texas Medical Branch, USA
Title: Opto acoustics: an emerging diagnostic imaging modality for neurological disorders and stroke
Biography
Biography: Rinat Esenaliev
Abstract
Opto acoustics is an emerging diagnostic imaging modality. We propose to use optoacoustics for biomedical applications working on it for more than 25 years starting from idea of basic science to clinical studies. Biomedical optoacoustics is based on detection and analysis of optoacoustic waves generated in tissues via thermoelastic mechanism by short optical pulses. We proposed a number of important diagnostic, therapeutic and theranostic applications; developed and built opto acoustic systems and performed animal and clinical studies. The proposed diagnostic applications include noninvasive transcranial mapping, monitoring and imaging for management of patients with intracranial hematomas, stroke and other neurological conditions. In this paper, we present an overview of our works for these applications from idea to study of tissues in vitro and to animal and clinical studies. We developed and built optoacoustic systems for early detection of intracranial hematomas and mapping of cerebral blood oxygenation. We tested the systems in small (rats) and large (sheep) animals and then in adults (healthy volunteers and patients with traumatic brain injury) and neonates (both term and premature). The obtained data demonstrated that the optoacoustic systems can be used for early detection and characterization of hematomas as well as for measurements of cerebral venous blood oxygenation with high resolution and accuracy. Our results suggest that the optoacoustic imaging modality may be used for early detection and characterization of stroke (ischemic vs., hemorrhagic).