Abstract: In early 90s we proposed optoacoustics (photoacoustics) for imaging in tissues and medical diagnostics. Since then many research groups started working in this field and at present optoacoustic technique became an emerging diagnostic modality. It has a great potential to become an invaluable tool for early, cost-efficient, and safe diagnosis. It is based on thermoelastic generation of optoacoustic waves in tissues with optical pulses and provides images with high molecular contrast and high spatial resolution. We proposed to use optoacoustics for diagnostics of a number of diseases including cancer, stroke (ischemic and hemorrhagic), circulatory shock; intracranial hematoma detection, monitoring of cerebral blood oxygenation in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), neonatal patients, and fetuses during late-stage labor. This technique is particularly suitable for quantitative, real-time, continuous measurements and monitoring of blood oxygenation including cerebral blood oxygenation with high accuracy and resolution. We developed and built medical grade laser-based systems for optoacoustic imaging, monitoring, and sensing. We developed software and algorithms for real-time, continuous imaging and monitoring in tissues with high accuracy and resolution. Unique ultra-sensitive, wide-band optoacoustic detectors were developed by our group for a number of clinical applications. We performed successful pre-clinical and clinical tests of the systems in healthy volunteers, patients with TBI, and critically ill patients. For further improvement accuracy and resolution machine learning can be used. Machine learning can substantially enhance the diagnostic capabilities of this emerging imaging technique. Applications of machine learning may also significantly shorten time for optoacoustic diagnosis.

Keywords: Optoacoustic, photoacoustic, imaging, monitoring, machine learning

Acknowledgements: We thank the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other funding agencies, and industry for support of these studies.

Biography: Rinat O. Esenaliev, PhD, is a Professor at the Department of Neurobiology, Director of Laboratory for Optoacoustic Imaging and Monitoring at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), USA. He is a Fellow of SPIE and OSA/Optica. Dr. Esenaliev was working at Rice University and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston (Texas) from 1993 to 1997. Since 1997 he has been working at UTMB. Dr. Esenaliev is a pioneer in biomedical optoacoustic imaging and monitoring and has over 30 years of experience in biomedical optics and optoacoustics, optoacoustic instrumentation, and optoacoustic diagnostics, therapy and theranostics. His research interests include also noninvasive biosensors, nanotechnology, laser-based therapies of cancer and other diseases, anti-cancer drug delivery, OCT, and high-resolution ultrasound. Dr. Esenaliev has over 180 publications (excluding abstracts) that have been cited over 10,000 times, and his publication h-index is 50. He is an inventor of 30 patents (including 22 issued patents) and author of 282 conference presentations, most of them on optoacoustic imaging and monitoring. In 2010 he was a winner of the University of Texas System Chancellor’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award for “Multiple Therapeutic and Diagnostic Methods and Devices”. He received 33 grants for development of novel technologies for noninvasive diagnostics, therapy, and theranostics. Dr. Esenaliev has been serving as an editorial board member of Photoacoustics.