DOT guided fluorescence molecular tomography of arbitrarily shaped objects.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Imaging
• Quantitative Fluorescence Imaging

Background:

• Accurate quantification in 3D fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) is challenging, especially for complex geometries.
• Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) can provide optical property distributions, potentially improving FMT accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a truly quantitative 3D FMT approach for arbitrarily shaped objects.
• To assess the impact of diffuse optical tomography (DOT)-derived optical property distribution on FMT accuracy.

Main Methods:

• An optical-fiber-free, multiangle transmission system was employed for data acquisition.
• A finite element reconstruction approach was used, incorporating DOT-derived optical properties.
• Phantom geometries mimicking mouse anatomical structures were utilized for evaluation.

Main Results:

• The DOT-guided FMT approach significantly improved the accuracy of the recovered fluorophore absorption coefficient (μa(x→m)) for indocyanine green.
• Quantitative accuracy was achieved even without prior knowledge of optical properties.
• The absolute values of μa(x→m) obtained via DOT-guided FMT were quantitatively consistent with spectroscopic measurements.

Conclusions:

• Integrating DOT with FMT enables truly quantitative 3D fluorescence molecular imaging.
• The finite element reconstruction method effectively utilizes optical property distribution for enhanced accuracy.
• This approach holds promise for precise molecular imaging in complex biological systems.