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Deep thrombosis characterization using photoacoustic imaging with intravascular light delivery

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Abstract

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a condition in which blood clots form within the deep veins of the leg or pelvis to cause deep vein thrombosis. The optimal treatment of VTE is determined by thrombus properties such as the age, size, and chemical composition of the blood clots. The thrombus properties can be readily evaluated by using photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT), a hybrid imaging modality that combines the rich contrast of optical imaging and deep penetration of ultrasound imaging. With inherent sensitivity to endogenous chromophores such as hemoglobin, multispectral PACT can provide composition information and oxygenation level in the clots. However, conventional PACT of clots relies on external light illumination, which provides limited penetration depth due to strong optical scattering of intervening tissue. In our study, this depth limitation is overcome by using intravascular light delivery with a thin optical fiber. To demonstrate in vitro blood clot characterization, clots with different acuteness and oxygenation levels were placed underneath ten-centimeter-thick chicken breast tissue and imaged using multiple wavelengths. Acoustic frequency analysis was performed on the received PA channel signals, and oxygenation level was estimated using multispectral linear spectral unmixing. The results show that, with intravascular light delivery, clot oxygenation level can be accurately measured, and the clot age can thus be estimated. In addition, we found that retracted and unretracted clots had different acoustic frequency spectrum. While unretracted clots had stronger high frequency components, retracted clots had much higher low frequency components due to densely packed red blood cells. The PACT characterization of the clots was consistent with the histology results and mechanical tests.

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Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored by American Heart Association Collaborative Sciences Award (18CSA34080277); The United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R21EB027981, RF1 NS115581 (BRAIN Initiative), R01 NS111039, R01 EB028143; and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Grant (2020-226178), all to J. Yao; R21EB027304 and R01HL141967, all to X. Jiang; R01EB025205, to Y. Jing.

Funding

This work was sponsored by American Heart Association Collaborative Sciences Award (18CSA34080277); The United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R21EB027981, RF1 NS115581 (BRAIN Initiative), R01 NS111039, R01 EB028143; and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Grant (2020-226178), all to J. Yao; R21EB027304 and R01HL141967, all to X. Jiang.

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  1. Yuqi Tang and Huaiyu Wu have contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Yuqi Tang & Junjie Yao

  2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Huaiyu Wu, Bohua Zhang, Hsiao-Ying Shadow Huang & Xiaoning Jiang

  3. Graduate Program in Acoustics and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Paul Klippel & Yun Jing

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  1. Yuqi Tang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Yuqi Tang, Huaiyu Wu, Paul Klippel and Bohua Zhang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yuqi Tang and Huaiyu Wu and all authors commented on previous version of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiaoning Jiang or Junjie Yao.

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Tang, Y., Wu, H., Klippel, P. et al. Deep thrombosis characterization using photoacoustic imaging with intravascular light delivery. Biomed. Eng. Lett. 12, 135–145 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-022-00216-0

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