Tissue trauma often causes hematoma formation. Recently, we proposed to use the optoacoustic technique for hematoma detection and performed studies on hematoma monitoring and imaging in the brain and skin. It is well known that methemoglobin is produced during hematoma aging. In this work we propose to use the optoacoustic technique for staging, monitoring, and imaging of hematomas during their formation and aging. We measured optoacoustic spectra of methemoglobin in the 800-950 nm spectral range in which it has strong absorption and demonstrated that this spectral range can be used for of hematoma staging, monitoring, and imaging.
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