We demonstrate handheld Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT) as a novel non-invasive imaging approach to visualize and quantify muscle wasting in pediatric SMA.  While MSOT signals were distributed homogeneously in muscles of healthy volunteers (HVs), SMA patients showed moth-eaten optoacoustic signal patterns.  Therefore, handheld MSOT could enable non-invasive assessment of disease burden in SMA patients.
MSOT
Multispectral optoacoustic tomography for non-invasive disease phenotyping in pediatric spinal muscular atrophy patients.Proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare progressive, life limiting genetic motor neuron disease.  We demonstrate handheld Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT) as a novel non-invasive imaging approach to visualize and quantify muscle wasting in pediatric SMA. 
Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography