360° Fourier transform profilometry in surface reconstruction for fluorescence molecular tomography

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Optical Engineering
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) is a valuable tool for disease observation.
• Accurate 3D surface reconstruction is crucial for FMT as a boundary constraint.
• Existing methods may lack speed or accuracy for real-time applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an automatic, noncontact, and rapid 3D surface reconstruction method for FMT.
• To integrate 360° Fourier transform profilometry (FTP) into FMT systems.
• To evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed 360° FTP method.

Main Methods:

• Proposed a 360° Fourier transform profilometry (FTP) technique for noncontact 3D surface reconstruction.
• Utilized single-frame FTP at different angles to achieve 360° integrated surface profiles.
• Compared the FTP method with the Radon transform method for computation time and accuracy.

Main Results:

• Achieved relative mean errors of <1.4% in phantom experiments and <2.9% in vivo mouse experiments.
• Reduced computation time by over 90% compared to the Radon transform method with minimal error increase.
• Demonstrated simultaneous operation and animal monitoring capabilities of the 360° FTP system with FMT.

Conclusions:

• The 360° FTP method provides a fast, accurate, and noncontact solution for 3D surface reconstruction in FMT.
• This technique enhances FMT by improving boundary constraint accuracy and reducing processing time.
• The 360° FTP system is versatile, capable of independent surface reconstruction and simultaneous operation with FMT.