From the Editors

Abstract

Evidently used already in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries in the hydrocephalus (1740), scrotum (1849) and for sinusitis (1889), long forgotten methods of optical diagnostics in medicine are currently experiencing a revival. Another generation of scientists is eager to find new solutions in areas such as optical tomography, optical biopsy, optical molecular imaging, and other methods of optical laboratory diagnostics. Exploiting state-of-the-art theories and techniques of the late 20th and the 21st centuries, tremendous progress has been made over the last decade. The papers of this volume provide a cross-section through the field of modern optical diagnostics and highlight some of the most exciting developments. In the article Optical Imaging of Apoptosis, E.A. Schellenberger, L. Josephson and V. Ntziachristos elucidate the potential of the fast growing field of optical molecular imaging. Thanks to the visualization of molecular mechanisms it may soon be possible to link diagnostic to therapeutic monitoring. If successfully implemented this novel imaging technique will enable disease detection and treatment long before macroscopic tissue and organ changes occur, and therefore greatly enhance the reach of modern medicine. A.K. Scheel et al. report on exciting clinical results in optical diagnostics of rheumatoid arthritis in finger joints. The procedure developed by this group is based on scattered-light measurements and advance receiver-operating curve (ROC) analysis of the transmitted light intensity. The established sensitivity of over 80 % with a specificity of 89% and an accuracy of 86% in detecting inflammatory changes in affected joints is very impressive, indeed. Another fascinating subject is presented by H. Obrig, J. Steinbrink and A. Villringer. These authors report on methods that use near-infrared (NIR) light to probe the functional state of the cerebral cortex. It appears that NIR spectroscopy can make considerable contribution in answering important questions concerning neurovascular coupling, which is the basis of modern imaging techniques such as BOLD contrast fMRI and PET. In doing so, optical techniques may soon become an integral part in the diagnosis of neurological disease such as stroke and epilepsy. G.M. Palmer and N. Ramanujam present a comprehensive review of the clinically significant field of optical breast cancer diagnosis. The authors demonstrate that high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity can be achieved when using optical biopsy in connection with multi-spectral detection of fluorescence and reflectance spectra, as well as novel non-parametric multivariate statistical algorithms. Interesting results in the use of optical coherence tomography in clinical dermatology are described by R. Steiner, K. Kunzi-Rapp and K. Scharffetter-Kochanek. This group succeeded in detecting discrete pathologic changes in bullous diseases, inflammations and different types of skin cancer. Here, too, the increasing importance of optical diagnostics for clinical use has been worked out. Finally M. and J. Hopf present their clinically orientated paper on NIR diagnostics in acute maxillary sinusitis brilliantly describing the theoretical background, diagnostic potential and, last not least the clinical limits for the use of this procedure. We hope the selection and quality of the results published herein, which are representative of the excellent work of many research groups, and the topics of the last three volumes of our journal will provide our readers with an overview of the state of the art in clinically-associated optical diagnostics research.