[Non-invasive determination of the optical properties of neonatal brain]

The absorption andreduced scattering parameters of tissue can provide information on a variety of physiologic processes. In the present paper, the local optical properties of 23 infant foreheads were measured with a two-wavelength (788 and 832 nm) portable frequency-domain NIR spectroscopic techinque, based on a standard reference phantom with known optical properties. The single source-detector separation is 40 mm. The cerebral blood volume and tissue oxygensaturation were also derived from themeasured absorption coefficients.