Assessments of vascularity are important when assessing inflammation changes in tendon injuries since Achilles tendinitis is often accompanied with neovascularization or hypervascularity. In this study, we have investigated the feasibility of photoacoustic imaging in noninvasive monitoring of morphological and vascular changes in Achilles tendon injuries. Collagenase-induced Achilles tendinitis model of mice was adopted here. During collagenase-induced tendinitis, a 25-MHz photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) was used to image micro-vascular changes in Achilles tendons longitudinally up to 23 days. The positions of vessels imaged by PAM were identified by co-registration of PAM Bmode images with 25-MHz ultrasound (USM) ones. Morphological changes in Achilles tendons due to inflammation and edema were revealed by the PAM and USM images. Proliferation of new blood vessels within the tendons was also observed. Observed micro-vascular changes during tendinitis were similar to the findings in the literatures. This study demonstrates that photoacoustic imaging, owning required sensitivity and penetration, has the potential for high sensitive diagnosis and assessment of treatment performance in tendinopathy.

Date Published: 25 February 2010
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 7564, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2010, 75642Q (25 February 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.841565

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7564:
Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2010
Alexander A. Oraevsky; Lihong V. Wang, Editor(s)