by Zaara Abbas / April 26, 2024
With many diseases related to problems with blood flow, like heart attacks, diabetes complications, and cancerous tumor growth, being able to clearly visualize and analyze blood vessels and blood circulation is extremely valuable for diagnosis and treatment. However, existing techniques have limited ability to image blood vessels located deep within the body.
Caltech’s PAVT overcomes this limitation by using laser light that interacts with the hemoglobin in red blood cells, causing them to vibrate and emit ultrasound signals. Special sensors detect these signals from outside the body and advanced computer algorithms reconstruct detailed 3D images showing the location of blood vessels along with precise maps of the direction and rate of blood flow through each vessel. This allows quantifying important physiological parameters like oxygen consumption and metabolism in a completely non-invasive way.
"When I first saw our images of blood flow, I was absolutely amazed," explained Caltech's Dr. Lihong Wang, who led the PAVT research.
Beyond just imaging vessel structure, PAVT visualizes the dynamic movement of blood in a level of microscopic detail never before achieved with a whole-body imaging technique. The researchers believe this is enabled by PAVT's ability to detect distinct patterns in the distribution of red blood cells as they flow through the body's vessels. While still in the research stage, PAVT represents a powerful new medical imaging capability that could revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, brain disorders, and many other conditions impacted by blood vessel abnormalities or irregularities in blood flow dynamics. The PAVT team's pioneering work has opened an incredible new window into visualizing the human circulatory system in remarkable depth and detail.
Citations:
Velasco, E. (2024, March 1). Caltech’s PAVT: Seeing deep blood flow without a single cut. SciTechDaily. https://scitechdaily.com/caltechs-pavt-seeing-deep-blood-flow-without-a-single-cut/
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