At the MEDICA conference in Dusseldorf, Germany later this month researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering will be showing off a prototype finger scanner designed to help diagnose arthritis. The device uses two methods. It first pulses laser light of varying wavelengths at the finger and records the returning sound waves generated from tissue expansion, pointing to sites of inflammation, a technique known as optoacoustic imaging. And it also performs hyperspectral imaging, which shines light at full spectrum at the finger, detecting which wavelengths are absorbed, correlating that to known absorption spectra of inflammation.
Since optoacoustic imaging is a cousin of ultrasound, the system also naturally produces a 3D ultrasound scan of the finger. The combined imaging modalities provide an anatomical view of the finger overlaid with any suspected sites of inflammation.
Via: Fraunhofer…