Prototype Detects Rheumatoid Arthritis
Results are very promising so far
The first goal of the prototype device was to see if it could successfully diagnose rheumatoid arthritis at least as successfully as its competing technologies, namely, ultrasound. A clinical trial was conducted by the University of Twente and Ziekenhuis Groep Twente, where the hands of seven healthy individuals were imaged and compared to the hands of ten individuals with rheumatoid arthritis.
The results of the images proved that the prototype device could diagnose rheumatoid arthritis, at least as well as its ultrasound competitor. The images produced by the photoacoustic device showed a signal response that was four to ten times stronger in inflamed hands than in healthy hands, a result which at the very least is equal to the image produced by ultrasound technologies. This is a promising beginning for a technology that has not yet been refined and perfected.