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International audience; The noninvasive assessment of flap viability in autologous reconstruction surgery is still an unmet clinical need. To cope with this problem, we developed a proof-of-principle fully automatized setup for fast time-gated diffuse optical tomography exploiting Mellin–Laplace transform to obtain three-dimensional tomographic reconstructions of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin concentrations. We applied this method to perform preclinical tests on rats inducing total venous occlusion in the cutaneous abdominal flaps. Notwithstanding the use of just four source-detector couples, we could detect a spatially localized increase of deoxyhemoglobin following the occlusion (up to 550 μM in 54 min). Such capability to image spatio-temporal evolution of blood perfusion is a key issue for the noninvasive monitoring of flap viability.

International audience; Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) have been very recently introduced as the most promising detectors in the field of diffuse optics, in particular due to the inherent low cost and large active area. We also demonstrate the suitability of SiPMs for time-domain diffuse optical tomography (DOT). The study is based on both simulations and experimental measurements. Results clearly show excellent performances in terms of spatial localization of an absorbing perturbation, thus opening the way to the use of SiPMs for DOT, with the possibility to conceive a new generation of low-cost and reliable multichannel tomographic systems.

Fluorescence imaging in diffusive media is an emerging imaging modality for medical applications that uses injected fluorescent markers that bind to specific targets, e.g., carcinoma. The region of interest is illuminated with near-IR light and the emitted back fluorescence is analyzed to localize the fluorescence sources. To investigate a thick medium, as the fluorescence signal decreases with the light travel distance, any disturbing signal, such as biological tissues intrinsic fluorescence (called autofluorescence) is a limiting factor. Several specific markers may also be simultaneously injected to bind to different molecules, and one may want to isolate each specific fluorescent signal from the others. To remove the unwanted fluorescence contributions or separate different specific markers, a spectroscopic approach is explored. The nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is the blind positive source separation method we chose. We run an original regularized NMF algorithm we developed on experimental data, and successfully obtain separated in vivo fluorescence spectra.

We present two major advances in preclinical fluorescence-enhanced diffuse optical tomography (fDOT) system and assess its performance. It is now possible to perform experiments without adaptation liquid or a glass plate over the animal, and our system is equipped with a filter wheel in order to discriminate two injected fluorophores. Evaluation carried out on characterization phantoms and in vivo on mice demonstrates enriched use of the system for biological studies on small animals.

Finding a way to combine ultrasound and fluorescence optical imaging on an endorectal probe may improve early detection of prostate cancer. The ultrasound provides morphological information about the prostate, while the optical system detects and locates fluorophore-marked tumors. A tissue-mimicking phantom, which is representative of prostate tissues both on its optical (absorption mu(a) and diffusion mu(s) (')) and its ultrasound properties, has been made by our team. A transrectal probe adapted to fluorescence diffuse optical tomography measurements was also developed. Measurements were taken on the prostate phantom with this probe based on a pulsed laser and a time-resolved detection system. A reconstruction algorithm was then used to help locate and quantify fluorescent inclusions of different concentrations at fixed depths.

International audience; We present in vivo experiments conducted with a new fluorescence diffuse optical tomographic (fDOT) system on cancerous mice bearing mammary murine tumors. We first briefly present this new system that has been developed and its associated reconstruction method. Its main specificity is its ability to reconstruct the fluorescence yield even in heterogeneous and highly attenuating body regions such as lungs and to enable mouse inspection without immersion in optical index matching liquid (Intralipid and ink). Some phantom experiments validate the performance of this new system for heterogeneous media inspection. Its use for a mice study is then related. It consists in the follow-up of the lungs at different stages of tumor development after injection of RAFT-(cRGD)4-Alexa700. As expected, the reconstructed fluorescence increases along with the tumor stage. These results validate the use of our system for biological studies of small animals.

Fluorescence imaging in diffusive media is an emerging imaging modality for medical applications that uses injected fluorescent markers that bind to specific targets, e.g., carcinoma. The region of interest is illuminated with near-IR light and the emitted back fluorescence is analyzed to localize the fluorescence sources. To investigate a thick medium, as the fluorescence signal decreases with the light travel distance, any disturbing signal, such as biological tissues intrinsic fluorescence (called autofluorescence) is a limiting factor. Several specific markers may also be simultaneously injected to bind to different molecules, and one may want to isolate each specific fluorescent signal from the others. To remove the unwanted fluorescence contributions or separate different specific markers, a spectroscopic approach is explored. The nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is the blind positive source separation method we chose. We run an original regularized NMF algorithm we developed on experimental data, and successfully obtain separated in vivo fluorescence spectra.