RUS-PAT images of the breast of a healthy female subject. Credit: Nature Biomedical Engineering (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41551-025-01603-5
In a proof-of-concept study, researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have shown that an innovative, noninvasive technique can be used to quickly collect 3D images of the human body, from head to foot.
The technology combines ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging, which detects sound waves generated by light, to simultaneously collect images of both tissue and blood vessels. The findings, published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, have the potential to address current gaps in medical imaging.
Imaging is a critical part of modern medicine,informing care across injury,infection,cancer,chronic disease and more.But today’s gold standard techniques-ultrasound, X-ray, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-each have their limitations.these include cost and time required for each scan, as well as what the images can capture-how much of the body can be seen at once, how deep images can reach and how much detail they provide.
“You cannot understate the importance of medical imaging for clinical practice. Our team has identified key limitations of existing techniques and developed a novel approach to address them,” said Charles Liu, MD, Ph.D., professor of clinical neurological surgery, urology and surgery at the Keck School of Medicine, director of the USC neurorestoration Center and co-senior author of the new research.
To show how broadly the technology can be applied, the researchers used the system
broad clinical potential
By imaging the brain, breast, hand and foot, the researchers have shown RUS-PAT’s potential across a wide range of health care applications. Brain imaging plays a central role in the diagnosis and treatment of stroke, traumatic brain injury and neurological disease, while breast imaging supports care for one of the most common cancers worldwide.
“Photoacoustics opens up a new frontier of human study, and we believe this technology will be critical for the advancement of new diagnostics and patient-specific therapies,” said Jonathan Russin, MD, co-frist author of the study and professor and chief of neurosurgery at the University of Vermont.
Rapid, low-cost imaging of the foot could also aid millions of people living with diabetic foot complications and venous disease.
“This approach clearly has the potential to help clinicians identify at-risk limbs and inform interventions to preserve function in diabetic foot disease and other vascular conditions,” said Tze-Woei Tan, MD, co-author and associate professor of clinical surgery and director of the Limb Salvage Research Program at the Keck school of Medicine.
More work is needed before RUS-PAT is ready for clinical use. One major challenge for brain request remains that the human skull distorts the system’s signals, making it hard to collect clear images of the brain. The Caltech team is exploring novel approaches to solve this problem, including adjustments to ultrasound frequency. Further improvements are also needed to ensure consistent image quality across scans.
“This is an early but important proof-of-concept study,showing that RUS-PAT can create medically meaningful images acro
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