Physicians and researchers rely on biomedical imaging to examine the structure and function of living tissue. This enables disease diagnostics and experiments that reveal the mechanisms behind pathologies and ways to treat them. The most popular techniques for radiation-free imaging are ultrasound and MRI scans. Optoacoustics, on the other hand, is a promising emerging approach only recently introduced into clinical practice.
Now, Skoltech researchers and their Swiss and Chinese colleagues have managed to marry these distinct imaging techniques by devising a universal contrast agent—an injectable drug that simultaneously works with all three approaches. The new agent could make diagnostics faster and more accurate, while reducing examination cost, the number of injections, and the dosage necessary.
"The individual contrast agents used in any given imaging technique have their advantages, but by bringing them together we make them complement each other. This translates, among other things, into higher sensitivity and better imaging resolution. And we reduce invasiveness, because where you used to require three separate injections, now you only need one," one of the study's two lead authors, Daniil Nozdriukhin, said.
A further tentative application of the new contrast agent is magnetic resonance and optoacoustic imaging of the brain. The problem with visualizing the brain is that the so-calledonly allows a select few molecules from the bloodstream to enter the brain: oxygen, nutrients, hormones, etc.
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