Diagnosis and Treatment Monitoring of Port Wine Stain Using LED Based Photoacoustics: Theoretical Aspects and First In Human Clinical Pilot Study

Port-wine stain (PWS) is categorized as a benign capillary vascular malformation, which is difficult to cure. In general, PWS appears on the face, but it can affect other areas of the body too. The affected skin surface may thicken slightly and develop an irregular, pebbled surface in adulthood. PWS’s cosmetic appearance causes substantial mental stress for the patients. Currently, characterization and treatment evaluation of PWS are generally conducted using physical examination and using imaging tools like digital camera, ultrasound imaging, dermoscopy, and tristimulus colorimeters. All these commonly used imaging techniques do not offer enough imaging depth and contrast required for the accurate evaluation of PWS. In this clinical pilot study, we demonstrated for the first time that LED-based photoacoustics can be used as a point-of-care tool for clinical evaluation and PDT-treatment monitoring of PWS disease.