A professor’s research is using light and sound to improve the medical imaging field.
Russell Witte, associate professor at the University of Arizona Department of Radiology, said Thursday at University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix that although imaging has made great strides throughout the years, when it comes to looking inside the body, there are still difficulties.
“So we have the ability to look on an incredible scale to make pictures today; however, when we try to look inside the body just a millimeter or two, things become much more challenging,” Witte said.
To reduce the difficulty of medical imaging, researchers like Witte have taken light and sound to create images that are easier to observe.
“(We’re) trying to think of new ways to look at the body, look at tissue and look at the contrast,” Witte said.
The new techniques include virtual touch, which allows for doctors to touch beneath the skin by using an ultrasound pulse to push bodily tissue, which causes the tissue to deform.
The deformation causes shear waves, or waves that move through tissue, which can be measured to find strain and stiffness of muscle.
Witte and a team of researchers used this technique in a published, peer-reviewed study of patients with posterior tibial tendon dysfunction. This abnormality can cause pain in the ankle and affect ability to walk.
The study aimed to find what was causing this dysfunction in the tendon and what impact force had on the tendon. The research found that the unhealthy tendons would go stiff and stay stiff after too much deformation, while the healthy tendons would deform but could relax again.
Witte said that this technique, if successful with tendons, can also be used in other parts of the body.
“We’re doing things with the liver … cardiac, breast imaging,” Witte said. “People have even used this to look at micromotion in the brain.”
Witte said the light technique he works with most is called the photoacoustic effect. This method uses orbital absorption to light up paths or areas in the body. Orbital absorption is defined as the capture and transformation of energy in molecules. This captured energy then gives off a differently colored light depending on the substance type.
Witte said this technology is being used all over the world, and he hopes it becomes easier to transfer one day.
“This type of technology could be portable,” Witte said. “We have portable EEG, portable ultrasounds … so one of our ideas is to have this as portable technology.”
The complexity of Witte’s research was what stood out to many students at the event.
“I found it interesting, but definitely learned I need to work on my physics,” said Arizona State University student Tahmid Ahmed.
Ron Hammer, professor in the department of Basic Medical Sciences, set up Witte’s presentation as a way to encourage today’s students to learn all parts of the medical field and to see the new research being done with that technology.
“Part of what we do is to enhance our interaction with the College of Medicine in Tucson and to bring in good science wherever it resides,” Hammer said. “And this is good science.”
Contact the reporter at kaylee.stock@asu.edu.
