Optical extinction and diffuse reflection spectra of cancerous and normal prostate tissues in the 750 to 860 nm spectral range were measured. Optical extinction measurements using thin ex vivo prostate tissue samples were used to determine the scattering coefficient (μ_s), while diffuse reflection measurements using thick prostate tissue samples were used to extract the absorption coefficient (μ_a) and the reduced scattering coefficient (μ's ). The anisotropy factor (g) was obtained using the extracted values of μ_s and μ's. The values of fractal dimension (D_f) of cancerous and normal prostate tissues were obtained by fitting to the wavelength dependence of μ's. The number of scattering particles contributing to μ_s as a function of particle size and the cutoff diameter D_max as a function of g were investigated using the fractal soft tissue model and Mie theory. Results show that D_max of the normal tissue is larger than that of the cancerous tissue. The cutoff diameter D_max is observed to agree with the nuclear size for the normal tissues and the nucleolar size for the cancerous tissues. Transmission spectral polarization imaging measurements were performed that could distinguish the cancerous prostate tissue samples from the normal tissue samples based on the differences between their absorption and scattering parameters.

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Citation lists with outbound citation links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription