Photoacoustic imaging of a human vertebra: implications for guiding spinal fusion surgeries.

ABSTRACT: It is well known that there are structural differences between cortical and cancellous bone. However, spinal surgeons currently have no reliable method to non-invasively determine these differences in real-time when choosing the optimal starting point and trajectory to insert pedicle screws and avoid surgical complications associated with breached or weakened bone. This paper explores 3D photoacoustic imaging of a human vertebra to noninvasively differentiate cortical from cancellous bone for this surgical task. We observed that signals from the cortical bone tend to appear as compact, high-amplitude signals, while signals from the cancellous bone have lower amplitudes and are more diffuse. In addition, we discovered that the location of the light source for photoacoustic imaging is a crit

SUBMITTER: Shubert J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6097631 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature