Blood lipids are one of the main biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Current method for blood lipid assessment requires invasive blood draws, usually after an overnight fast, followed by lab-based testing, makes the technique not suitable for regular monitoring. The limitations of invasive blood testing techniques, alongside the growing evidence supporting the benefits of regular lipid monitoring, particularly after a meal, for better CVD prediction, indicate that there is an unmet need for non-invasive blood lipid assessment.
Our lab recently demonstrated the possibility of non-invasive blood lipids monitoring using a diffuse optical technique called shortwave infrared spatial frequency domain imaging (SWIR SFDI). Using SWIR SFDI, we have shown that an increase of blood lipids after a high fat meal that was measured with gold standard blood draw, correlates strongly with an SFDI derived parameter called SWIR-MPI index. While the results were promising, advancements in SFDI instrumentation, modeling, and experiments are needed prior to clinical testing and translation.
The work presented in this dissertation was focused on identifying the source of optical contrast induced by blood lipids, and advancing SFDI instrumentation and processing methodology for the goal of developing a clinic-ready optical system for non-invasive blood lipid assessment. To improve SFDI instrumentation, the SFDI parameters were fine-tuned, and a new compact and portable system was developed and assessed for its performance using optical phantoms. A new two-layer model that accounts for the effect of skin was developed to improve SFDI processing methodology when measuring human subjects. The integration of the new instrument and model make SFDI technique more suitable to use for human studies. Next, the effect of lipids on optical properties of blood were investigated through literature reviews, theoretical simulations and ex-vivo experiments on bovine blood. Finally, we conducted a healthy volunteer study to monitor blood lipid alteration after low fat and high fat meal with SFDI.
Together, the works in this project advances our comprehension of the optical effects of blood lipids and their association with meal consumption in both healthy individuals and those with dyslipidemia. The innovative technology and the preliminary feasibility study push the boundaries of non-invasive blood lipid assessment, offering promising prospects for translating this technology to clinical settings, thereby enhancing CVD risk assessment. / 2024-08-29T00:00:00Z
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/46646 |
| Date | 30 August 2023 |
| Creators | Pilvar, Anahita |
| Contributors | Roblyer, Darren |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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