Recovery of optical properties using interstitial cylindrical diffusers as source and detector fibers

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Physics
• Photonic Applications

Background:

• Accurate measurement of tissue optical properties is crucial for light-based therapies.
• Current methods often require separate instrumentation, increasing clinical complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate recovery of optical properties using interstitial diffusing fibers as both light sources and detectors.
• To validate the technique in tissue-simulating phantoms across a range of optical properties.

Main Methods:

• Utilized arrays of interstitial cylindrical diffusing fibers for illumination and detection at 665 nm.
• Employed a diffusion model informed by heterogeneous axial detection for optical property extraction.
• Verified the method using 15 liquid phantoms with controlled absorption and scattering properties.

Main Results:

• Achieved mean errors of 4.4% for effective attenuation coefficient, 12.6% for absorption coefficient, and 7.6% for reduced scattering coefficient.
• Observed increased error with decreasing transport albedo.
• Demonstrated successful recovery of optical properties in diverse phantom compositions.

Conclusions:

• Interstitial diffusing fibers can serve dual roles as sources/detectors for accurate optical property recovery.
• This integrated approach simplifies clinical procedures for interstitial therapies.
• Improved accuracy in optical property measurement enhances treatment planning for photodynamic and photothermal therapies.