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17 Jun 2002
Scientists have devised a technique that could save millions of people from bone-related diseases.
By making minor adjustments to the well known imaging technique diffuse optical tomography (DOT), US scientists from Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina have produced images of bones and joints, which could reveal the early stages of bone deterioration.
"We wanted to try this technique on bone tissue as bone or joint-related diseases affect millions of people worldwide," explained Huabei Jiang of Clemson University. "Current techniques, such as X-ray radiography or ultrasound, can only provide tissue structural information and so are not appropriate for detecting or monitoring these diseases."
Jiang and colleagues placed samples of chicken bone and also the finger of a human volunteer into a 'phantom solid'. The solid was a mixture of fat emulsion and ink that mimicked the optical properties of soft tissues surrounding bones and joints. By directing a laser at each sample, via several tiny fiber-optic bundles, the scientists were able to produce scattering and absorption images that showed differences in the optical properties of the bones, tissues and phantom solid.
"We noted that images exhibited increased absorption and scattering at the bone region compared to the phantom background," reported the scientists in Optics Express 8 ,7,447. "We know that normal and diseased joint/bone tissues show clear differences in absorption and scattering coefficients, so DOT could become a useful tool for detecting and monitoring diseases such as osteoporosis and arthritis."
The scientists will now focus on osteoarthritis and plan to conduct three-dimensional DOT imaging of the joints. Pilot clinical trials on small subjects are also planned.
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