Presenting highly sensitive and clinically relevant functional information from soft tissues in and around the joint with spatial resolution comparable to ultrasound (US) imaging, photoacoustic (PA) imaging may shed new light on early diagnosis and treatment evaluation of human inflammatory arthritis. In this study on severe arthritis patients and healthy control subjects, we explored the potential contribution of PA imaging to rheumatology clinic. The feasibility of a point-of-care device built on a LED based PA imaging system for evaluating human finger joints was also studied. By performing imaging at a single laser wavelength, the spatially distributed hemoglobin content reflecting the hyperemia in synovial tissue in the finger joints of arthritis patients were imaged. By performing imaging at two laser wavelengths, the spatially distributed hemoglobin oxygenation reflecting the hypoxia in the finger joints of arthritis patients were also imaged. The measurements from the arthritis patients and the healthy controls were statistically analyzed by using two-tailed student t-tests.
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