UTFacultiesTNWResearchDept BISBiomedical Photonic Imaging (BMPI)NewsPioneers in Health Care Project for Riemer Slart and colleagues

Pioneers in Health Care Project for Riemer Slart and colleagues

Riemer Slart and Wiendelt Steenbergen from the BMPI, together with colleagues from Medisch Spectrum Twente and Ziekenhuisgroep Twente were awarded a voucher for the project “A new field for photoacoustic Imaging: From validation in healthy feet to critical limb ischemia detection in people with diabetes”.

Patients with diabetes are prone to develop chronic foot ulcers that may result in amputation of the leg, having a major impact on patients’ quality of life. Perfusion is crucial in healing and level of amputation determination. Accurate detection of perfusion is the greatest challenge nowadays in diabetic foot disease, with available techniques failing to reach adequate diagnostic and prognostic properties. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is a credible candidate for this application.

The purpose of this study is to validate this technique in healthy feet, monitoring foot ulcers, and assess whether PAI can be used in the operating room under sterile conditions.

Riemer and Wiendelt will use the Pioneers in Healtcare voucher to validate the real-time hand-held dual mode Photoacoustic/Ultrasound (PA/US)/ system in healthy feet as well in diabetic feet with ulcers. The researcher who will perform the work is Onno Mennes (Technical Medicine physician, ZGT/UTwente).

Contact: Riemer Slart (r.h.j.a.slart@utwente.nl or r.h.j.a.slart@umcg.nl) or Wiendelt Steenbergen (W.Steenbergen@utwente.nl)