Erik Kruit, Francis Kalloor Joseph (BMPI) and Srirang Manohar published an article in scientific reports together with collaborators from the university of Milan. For the study Francis and Erik went twice to Milan for a week of measurements. They measured the optical properties (absorption and reduced scattering) of bovine tissues (heart, muscle, brain, and liver) before, during and after radiofrequency ablation. The latter is a technique to destroy small tumors (< 3cm) minimally invasively with heat, which changes the optical properties of tissue, just like raw meat in your pan changes color with cooking. The results showed a decrease in absorption and increase in scattering with ablation of tissue together with some other distinct signatures in the spectra, like an increase and redshift of an absorption peak associated with blood. In Erik's PhD project they investigate photoacoustic imaging to guide radiofrequency ablation procedures in the liver. Since the photoacoustic signal is related to the optical properties, the results provided them with beautiful, accurate and relevant information for the development of photoacoustic imaging in the liver and other tissues. Some of the results have already been used in a Monte Carlo simulation for wavelength selection.
The paper can be accessed here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-85653-0
