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Updated: Aug 11, 2026
Software-Assisted Quantitative Measurement of Osteoarthritic Subchondral Bone Thickness
Published on: March 18, 2022
Development of a diagnostic system for osteoarthritis using a photoacoustic measurement method
Miya Ishihara1, Masato Sato, Nagatoshi Kaneshiro
1Department of Medical Engineering, National Defense Medical College, 3-2 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-8513, Japan. kobako@ndmc.ac.jp
Background And Objectives:
We demonstrated that photoacoustic measurement enables viscoelastic characterization of biological tissue. The purpose of this study was to develop a practical photoacoustic measurement system for diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA) by viscoelastic characterization of articular cartilage.
Study Design/Materials And Methods:
The portable system consists of a commercially available 3rd harmonic Q-switched Nd:YAG laser as a light source and a transducer, which is arranged coaxially with an optical fiber. Cell proliferation tests were performed to study the effect of laser irradiation on chondrocytes. Photoacoustic measurements were performed using enzymatically treated cartilage as a model of OA.
Results:
There was no significant damage of chondrocytes caused by laser irradiation (100 microJ/mm2, 5 Hz, 30 shots). The change in relaxation times measured by the photoacoustic measurement had a positive correlation with time of enzymatic treatment, that is, the degree of cartilage degeneration.
Conclusions:
We have developed a noninvasive photoacoustic measurement system designed for arthroscopic use and have demonstrated the applicability of this system to the diagnosis of OA-like cartilage degeneration.
