Biliary tree structures are embedded in adipose tissue and, therefore, cannot be visualized directly by the surgeon during cholecystectomy operations. This can lead to inadvertent injuries with serious complications for the patient. Computational studies were performed to assess the feasibility of noninvasively localizing these structures from spectrally resolved near-infrared reflectance measurements. Methodologies were developed for vessel localization, both on the adipose tissue surface and depthwise, by use of semi-infinite and two-layer models of diffuse photon propagation in tissues, respectively. The simulation results, along with some preliminary experimental measurements on tissue-simulating phantoms, prove the feasibility of these methods and show promise for their future clinical application.

© 2008 Optical Society of America

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