Nakagami statistics-based photoacoustic spectroscopy used for label-free assessment of bone tissue

Quickly identify the abnormal molecular metabolism information of bone tissue is challenging. Photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy techniques have great potential in molecular imaging. However, most of them is amplitude-dependent and easily affected by the light deposition, especially for the bone tissue with high optical scattering. In this study, we propose a Nakagami statistics-based PA spectroscopy (NSPS) method for characterizing molecules in bone tissues. We indicate that the NSPS curve can intelligently identify changes in the content of molecules for bone tissue, with high disturbance-resisting ability. The NSPS has great potential for use in the early and rapid detection of bone diseases.