Pulsed photothermal radiometry in optically transparent media containing discrete optical absorbers

Structural and component mining of nails using bioengineering techniques

The human nail is one of the challenging membranes for the scientists to target and to improve the clinical efficacy of ungual formulations. The understanding of nail physiology, impact of hydration on its properties and presence of trace elements in nails as biomarkers has been explored by various researchers in clinical studies. Despite the importance of biophysical techniques for the assessment of structure and physiology of nail, minimum literature analyses biophysical, biochemical and bioanalytical approaches. However, nowadays scientists in bioengineering field are keen in developing non-invasive, reliable and reproducible techniques for the assessment of different anatomical and functional parameters of nails for testing of ungual products.

Pulsed photothermal temperature profiling of agar tissue phantoms

We determine experimentally the accuracy of pulsed photothermal radiometric (PPTR) temperature depth profiling in water-based samples. We use custom tissue phantoms composed of agar gel layers separated by very thin absorbing layers. Two configurations of the acquisition system are compared, one using the customary spectral band of the InSb radiation detector (3.0-5.5 microm) and the other with a spectrally narrowed acquisition band (4.5-5.5 microm). The laser-induced temperature depth profiles are reconstructed from measured radiometric signals using a custom minimization algorithm. The results correlate very well with phantom geometry as determined by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and histology in all evaluated samples. Determination of the absorbing layer depth shows good repeatability with spatial resolution decreasing with depth. Spectral filtering improves the accuracy and resolution, especially for shallow absorption layers (~120 microm) and more complex structures (e.g., with two absorbing layers). The average full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the temperature peaks equals 23% of the layer depth.

Computational model to evaluate port wine stain depth profiling using pulsed photothermal radiometry

We report on development of an optical-thermal model to evaluate the use of pulsed photothermal radiometry (PPTR) for depth profiling of port wine stain (PWS) skin. In the model, digitized histology sections of a PWS biopsy were used as the input skin geometry. Laser induced temperature profiles were reconstructed from simulated PPTR signals by applying an iterative, non-negatively constrained conjugate gradient algorithm. Accuracy of the following PWS skin characteristics extracted from the reconstructed profiles was determined: (1) average epidermal thickness (z(epi)), (2) maximum epidermal temperature rise (DeltaT(epi,max)), (3) depth of PWS upper boundary (z(PWS)), and (4) depth of maximum PWS temperature rise (z(PWS,max)). Comparison of the actual and reconstructed profiles from PPTR data revealed a good match for all four PWS skin characteristics. Results of this study indicate that PPTR is a viable approach for depth profiling of PWS skin.

Accuracy of subsurface temperature distributions computed from pulsed photothermal radiometry

Pulsed photothermal radiometry (PPTR) is a non-contact method for determining the temperature increase in subsurface chromophore layers immediately following pulsed laser irradiation. In this paper the inherent limitations of PPTR are identified. A time record of infrared emission from a test material due to laser heating of a subsurface chromophore layer is calculated and used as input data for a non-negatively constrained conjugate gradient algorithm. Position and magnitude of temperature increase in a model chromophore layer immediately following pulsed laser irradiation are computed. Differences between simulated and computed temperature increase are reported as a function of thickness, depth and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The average depth of the chromophore layer and integral of temperature increase in the test material are accurately predicted by the algorithm. When the thickness/depth ratio is less than 25%, the computed peak temperature increase is always significantly less than the true value. Moreover, the computed thickness of the chromophore layer is much larger than the true value. The accuracy of the computed subsurface temperature distribution is investigated with the singular value decomposition of the kernel matrix. The relatively small number of right singular vectors that may be used (8% of the rank of the kernel matrix) to represent the simulated temperature increase in the test material limits the accuracy of PPTR. We show that relative error between simulated and computed temperature increase is essentially constant for a particular thickness/depth ratio.

Depth determination of chromophores in human skin by pulsed photothermal radiometry

We report on the application of pulsed photothermal radiometry (PPTR) to determine the depth of in-vitro and in-vivo subsurface chromophores in biological materials. Measurements provided by PPTR in combination with a nonnegative constrained conjugate-gradient algorithm are used to determine the initial temperature distribution in a biological material immediately following pulsed laser irradiation. Within the experimental error, chromophore depths (50-450 µm) in 55 in-vitro collagen phantoms determined by PPTR and optical low-coherence reflectometry are equivalent. The depths of port-wine-stain blood vessels determined by PPTR correlate very well with their locations found by computer-assisted microscopic observation of histologic sections. The mean blood-vessel depth deduced from PPTR and histologic observation is statistically indistinguishable (p > 0.94).

Thermal relaxation of port-wine stain vessels probed in vivo: the need for 1-10-millisecond laser pulse treatment

Although thermal relaxation times of cutaneous port-wine stain microvessels have been calculated and used to formulate laser selective photothermolysis, they have never been measured. A scheme to do so was devised by measuring the skin response to pairs of 585-nm dye laser pulses (250-360 microseconds each) as a function of the time interval between the two pulses, in five volunteers with port-wine stains. After a pump pulse delivering 80% of the fluence necessary for causing purpura, the fluence of a second probe pulse necessary to cause purpura was determined and was found to increase with the interval between the two pulses, in a manner consistent with thermal diffusion theory. Biopsy specimens were obtained from four of the five subjects to examine the nature and extent of vessel damage and to measure the port-wine stain vessel diameters. Using diffusion theory, the thermal relaxation time was calculated based on the measured vessel diameters. These calculated values are consistent with the increase in radiant exposure (fluence) of the probe pulse necessary to induce purpura for longer time delays. Two simple models for thermal relaxation of port-wine stain vessels are presented and compared with the data. The data and histologic assessment of the vessel injury strongly suggest that pulse durations for ideal laser treatment are in the 1-10-millisecond region and depend on vessel diameter. No dermatologic lasers presently used for port-wine stain treatment operate in this pulse width domain.