Observation of Hydrofluoric Acid Burns on Osseous Tissues by Means of Terahertz Spectroscopic Imaging

Terahertz technologies have gained great amount of attention for biomedical imaging and tissue analysis. In this study, we utilize terahertz imaging to study the effects of hydrofluoric acid on both compact bone tissue and cartilage. We compare the differences observed in the exposure for formalin fixed and raw, dried, tissue as well as those resulting from a change in hydrofluoric (HF) concentration. Measurements are performed with THz-TDS, and a variety of spectroscopic-based image reconstruction techniques are utilized to develop contrast in the features of interest.