Time-dependent optical spectroscopy and imaging for biomedical applications

The application of optical spectroscopy and imaging in living tissue is complicated by multiple scattering of light. In spectroscopy, this scattering causes uncertainty in the pathlength traveled by photons in the tissue, while images suffer reduced resolution and contrast. Picosecond light sources...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the IEEE 1992-06, Vol.80 (6), p.918-930
Main Authors: Wilson, B.C., Sevick, E.M., Patterson, M.S., Chance, B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption
Biomedical imaging
Biomedical measurements
Biomedical optical imaging
Image resolution
Light scattering
Optical imaging
Optical scattering
Particle scattering
Spectroscopy
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Summary:The application of optical spectroscopy and imaging in living tissue is complicated by multiple scattering of light. In spectroscopy, this scattering causes uncertainty in the pathlength traveled by photons in the tissue, while images suffer reduced resolution and contrast. Picosecond light sources and fast detectors have made it possible to address these problems by direct measurement of the photon time-of-flight. Diffusion models of light propagation can be used to relate the measured distribution of photon transit times to the scattering and absorption coefficients of the tissue. The advantages of absolute absorption measurement are demonstrated for two problems: determination of hemoglobin oxygenation in tissue and in vivo measurement of the uptake of an exogenous chromosphere such as photosensitizer. Optical imaging may also be improved by the elimination of multiply scattered photons or by selective detection of photons arriving from a given region of the tissue. The potential advantages of these techniques are discussed and illustrated with experimental data.< >
ISSN:0018-9219
1558-2256
DOI:10.1109/5.149454