Time domain fluorescent diffuse optical tomography: analytical expressions

Light propagation in tissue is known to be favored in the Near Infrared spectral range. Capitalizing on this fact, new classes of molecular contrast agents are engineered to fluoresce in the Near Infrared. The potential of these new agents is vast as it allows tracking non-invasively and quantitatively specific molecular events in-vivo. However, to monitor the bio-distribution of such compounds in thick tissue proper physical models of light propagation are necessary. To recover 3D concentrations of the compound distribution, it is necessary to perform a model based inverse problem: Diffuse Optical Tomography. In this work, we focus on Fluorescent Diffuse Optical Tomography expressed within the normalized Born approach. More precisely, we investigate the performance of Fluorescent Diffuse Optical Tomography in the case of time resolved measurements. The different moments of the time point spread function were analytically derived to construct the forward model. The derivation was performed from the zero order moment to the second order moment. This new forward model approach was validated with simulations based on relevant configurations. Enhanced performance of Fluorescent Diffuse Optical Tomography was achieved using these new analytical solutions when compared to the current formulations. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.