First-in-Human Study of Bone Pathologies Using Low-Cost and Compact Dual-Wavelength Photoacoustic System

Osteoporosis affects one-third of the elderly population worldwide with associated health care costs amounting to tens of billions of dollars annually. Identifying and treating the population at risk of fracture, but had not yet suffered from a fracture, can substantially reduce fracture incidence. Unfortunately, molecular changes in the bone, which are of great importance for early diagnosis, are not detected by current low-cost diagnostic methods. To address this issue, presented here is a clinically translatable, dual-modality multispectral photoacoustic system. Ex vivo experiments demonstrated sensitivity to the molecular changes. Specifically, the system enabled a quantitative measurement of the marrow's blood/fat ratio. First-in-human demonstration on healthy human volunteers showed the repeatability and accuracy of the photoacoustic method and its potential for early diagnosis of bone pathologies.