Spatial frequency domain imaging for the assessment of scleroderma skin involvement.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the widespread deposition of excess collagen in the skin and internal organs, as well as vascular dysfunction. The current standard of care technique used to quantify the extent of skin fibrosis in SSc patients is the modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS), which is an assessment of skin thickness based on clinical palpation. Despite being considered the gold standard, mRSS testing requires a trained physician and suffers from high inter-observer variability.

Shortwave infrared diffuse optical wearable probe for quantification of water and lipid content in emulsion phantoms using deep learning.

Significance: The shortwave infrared (SWIR, to 2000 nm) holds promise for label-free measurements of water and lipid content in thick tissue, owed to the chromophore-specific absorption features and low scattering in this range. water and lipid estimations have potential applications including the monitoring of hydration, volume status, edema, body composition, weight loss, and cancer. To the best of our knowledge, there are currently no point-of-care or wearable devices available that exploit the SWIR wavelength range, limiting clinical and at-home translation of this technology.

Feasibility of postprandial optical scattering of lipoproteins in blood as an optical marker of cardiovascular disease risk: modeling and experimental validation.

Significance: Blood lipid levels (i.e., triglycerides (TGs) and cholesterol) are a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.

Shortwave infrared spatial frequency domain imaging for non-invasive measurement of tissue and blood optical properties.

Significance: The shortwave infrared (SWIR) optical window (∼900 to 2000 nm) has attracted interest for deep tissue imaging due to the lower scattering of light. SWIR spatial frequency domain imaging (SWIR SFDI) provides wide-field tissue optical property measurements in this wavelength band. Key design and performance characteristics, such as portability, wavelength selection, measurement resolution, and the effect of skin have not yet been addressed for SWIR SFDI.

Shortwave-infrared meso-patterned imaging enables label-free mapping of tissue water and lipid content.

Water and lipids are key participants in many biological processes, but there are few non-invasive methods that provide quantification of these components in vivo, and none that can isolate and quantify lipids in the blood. Here we develop a new imaging modality termed shortwave infrared meso-patterned imaging (SWIR-MPI) to provide label-free, non-contact, spatial mapping of water and lipid concentrations in tissue. The method utilizes patterned hyperspectral illumination to target chromophore absorption bands in the 900-1,300 nm wavelength range.