Optical tomographic imaging of vascular and metabolic reactivity in rheumatoid joints

Our group has recently established that joints affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) can be distinguished from healthy joints through measurements of the scattering coefficient. We showed that a high scattering coefficient in the center of the joint is indicative of a joint with RA. While these results were encouraging, data to date still suffers from low sensitivity and specificity. Possibly higher specificities and sensitivities can be achieved if dynamic measurements of hemodynamic and metabolic processes in the synovium are considered. Using our dual-wavelength imaging system together with previously implemented model-based iterative image reconstruction schemes, we have performed initial dynamic imaging studies involving healthy human volunteers and patients affected by RA. These case studies seem to confirm our hypothesis that differences in the vascular reactivity exist between affected and unaffected joints.