An investigation of THz burn wound edema imaging using MRI

Parallel T2 weighted multi slice multi echo (T2w MSME) 7T Magnetic Resonance (MR) scans and terahertz (THz) surface reflectance maps were acquired of a full thickness skin burn in a rat model to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of terahertz reflectivity in wound responses. A comparison of uninjured and injured regions in the burn neighborhood demonstrates a 3-fold increase in T2 relaxation times and 15% increase in average THz reflectivity, respectively. These results support the sensitivity and specificity of MRI for measuring burn tissue water content in vivo and the use of this modality to potentially identify THz burn classifiers that best predict tissue viability in future THz studies.