We evaluate the ultimate transverse spatial resolution that can be expected in Diffuse Optical Tomography, in the configuration of projection imaging. We show how such a performance can be approached using time-resolved measurements and reasonable assumptions, in the context of a linearized diffusion model.

© 2009 OSA

1. F. F. Jöbsis, “Noninvasive, infrared monitoring of cerebral and myocardial oxygen sufficiency and circulatory parameters,” Science 198(4323), 1264–1267 (1977). [CrossRef]
2. J. R. Wilson, D. M. Mancini, K. McCully, N. Ferraro, V. Lanoce, and B. Chance, “Noninvasive detection of skeletal muscle underperfusion with near-infrared spectroscopy in patients with heart failure,” Circulation 80(6), 1668–1674 (1989). [CrossRef]
3. T. Hamaoka, H. Iwane, T. Katsumura, T. Shimomitsu, N. Murase, S. Nishio, T. Osada, T. Sako, H. Higuchi, M. Miwa, and B. Chance, “The quantitative measures of muscle oxygenation by near infrared time-resolved spectroscopy,” Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 28(Supplement), 62 (1996).
4. S. Takatani and J. Ling, “Optical oximetry sensors for whole blood and tissue,” IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Mag. 13(3), 347–357 (1994). [CrossRef]
5. R. Cubeddu, A. Pifferi, P. Taroni, A. Torricelli, and G. Valentini, “Compact tissue oximeter based on dual-wavelength multichannel time-resolved reflectance,” Appl. Opt. 38(16), 3670–3680 (1999). [CrossRef]
6. E. M. C. Hillman, J. C. Hebden, M. Schweiger, H. Dehghani, F. E. W. Schmidt, D. T. Delpy, and S. R. Arridge, “Time resolved optical tomography of the human forearm,” Phys. Med. Biol. 46(4), 1117–1130 (2001). [CrossRef]
7. A. Kienle and T. Glanzmann, “In vivo determination of the optical properties of muscle with time-resolved reflectance using a layered model,” Phys. Med. Biol. 44(11), 2689–2702 (1999). [CrossRef]
8. R. A. De Blasi, S. Fantini, M. A. Franceschini, M. Ferrari, and E. Gratton, “Cerebral and muscle oxygen saturation measurement by frequency-domain near-infra-red spectrometer,” Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 33(2), 228–230 (1995). [CrossRef]
9. G. Yu, T. Durduran, G. Lech, C. Zhou, B. Chance, E. R. Mohler, and A. G. Yodh, “Time-dependent blood flow and oxygenation in human skeletal muscles measured with noninvasive near-infrared diffuse optical spectroscopies,” J. Biomed. Opt. 10(2), 024027 (2005).
10. J. C. Hebden, A. Gibson, R. M. Yusof, N. Everdell, E. M. C. Hillman, D. T. Delpy, S. R. Arridge, T. Austin, J. H. Meek, and J. S. Wyatt, “Three-dimensional optical tomography of the premature infant brain,” Phys. Med. Biol. 47(23), 4155–4166 (2002). [CrossRef]
11. A. P. Gibson, T. Austin, N. L. Everdell, M. Schweiger, S. R. Arridge, J. H. Meek, J. S. Wyatt, D. T. Delpy, and J. C. Hebden, “Three-dimensional whole-head optical tomography of passive motor evoked responses in the neonate,” Neuroimage 30(2), 521–528 (2006). [CrossRef]
12. D. K. Joseph, T. J. Huppert, M. A. Franceschini, and D. A. Boas, “Diffuse optical tomography system to image brain activation with improved spatial resolution and validation with functional magnetic resonance imaging,” Appl. Opt. 45(31), 8142–8151 (2006). [CrossRef]
13. M. A. Franceschini, V. Toronov, M. Filiaci, E. Gratton, and S. Fantini, “On-line optical imaging of the human brain with 160-ms temporal resolution,” Opt. Express 6(3), 49–57 (2000), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-6-3-49 . [CrossRef]
14. D. Boas, J. Culver, J. Stott, and A. Dunn, “Three dimensional Monte Carlo code for photon migration through complex heterogeneous media including the adult human head”, Op. Express 10, 159–170 (2002), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-10-3-159
15. A. Liebert, H. Wabnitz, J. Steinbrink, H. Obrig, M. Möller, R. Macdonald, A. Villringer, and H. Rinneberg, “Time-resolved multidistance near-infrared spectroscopy of the adult head: intracerebral and extracerebral absorption changes from moments of distribution of times of flight of photons,” Appl. Opt. 43(15), 3037–3047 (2004). [CrossRef]
16. A. Pifferi, J. Swartling, E. Chikoidze, A. Torricelli, P. Taroni, A. Bassi, S. Andersson-Engels, and R. Cubeddu, “Spectroscopic time-resolved diffuse reflectance and transmittance measurements of the female breast at different interfiber distances,” J. Biomed. Opt. 9(6), 1143–1151 (2004). [CrossRef]
17. S. Srinivasan, B. W. Pogue, B. Brooksby, S. Jiang, H. Dehghani, C. Kogel, W. A. Wells, S. P. Poplack, and K. D. Paulsen, “Near-infrared characterization of breast tumors in vivo using spectrally-constrained reconstruction,” Technol. Cancer Res. Treat. 4(5), 513–526 (2005).
18. B. Wassermann, A. Kummrow, K. T. Moesta, D. Grosenick, J. Mucke, H. Wabnitz, M. Möller, R. Macdonald, P. M. Schlag, and H. Rinneberg, “In-vivo tissue optical properties derived by linear perturbation theory for edge-corrected time-domain mammograms”, Op. Express 13, 8571–8583 (2005), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-13-21-8571 [CrossRef]
19. D. Grosenick, K. T. Moesta, M. Möller, J. Mucke, H. Wabnitz, B. Gebauer, C. Stroszczynski, B. Wassermann, P. M. Schlag, and H. Rinneberg, “Time-domain scanning optical mammography: I. Recording and assessment of mammograms of 154 patients,” Phys. Med. Biol. 50(11), 2429–2449 (2005). [CrossRef]
20. D. Grosenick, H. Wabnitz, K. T. Moesta, J. Mucke, P. M. Schlag, and H. Rinneberg, “Time-domain scanning optical mammography: II. Optical properties and tissue parameters of 87 carcinomas,” Phys. Med. Biol. 50(11), 2451–2468 (2005). [CrossRef]
21. P. Taroni, A. Torricelli, L. Spinelli, A. Pifferi, F. Arpaia, G. Danesini, and R. Cubeddu, “Time-resolved optical mammography between 637 and 985 nm: clinical study on the detection and identification of breast lesions,” Phys. Med. Biol. 50(11), 2469–2488 (2005). [CrossRef]
22. A. Li, E. L. Miller, M. E. Kilmer, T. J. Brukilacchio, T. Chaves, J. Stott, Q. Zhang, T. Wu, M. A. Chorlton, R. H. Moore, D. B. Kopans, and D. A. Boas, “Tomographic optical breast imaging guided by three-dimensional mammography,” Appl. Opt. 42(25), 5181–5190 (2003). [CrossRef]
23. P. K. Yalavarthy, B. W. Pogue, H. Dehghani, C. M. Carpenter, S. Jiang, and K. D. Paulsen, “Structural information within regularization matrices improves near infrared diffuse optical tomography,” Opt. Express 15(13), 8043–8058 (2007), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-15-13-8043 . [CrossRef]
24. R. L. Barbour, H. L. Graber, J. W. Chang, S. L. S. Barbour, P. C. Koo, and R. Aronson, “MRI-guided optical tomography: Prospects and computation for a new imaging method,” IEEE Comput. Sci. Eng. 2(4), 63–77 (1995). [CrossRef]
25. M. S. Patterson, B. Chance, and B. C. Wilson, “Time resolved reflectance and transmittance for the non-invasive measurement of tissue optical properties,” Appl. Opt. 28(12), 2331–2336 (1989). [CrossRef]
26. A. H. Hielscher, S. L. Jacques, L. Wang, and F. K. Tittel, “The influence of boundary conditions on the accuracy of diffusion theory in time-resolved reflectance spectroscopy of biological tissues,” Phys. Med. Biol. 40(11), 1957–1975 (1995). [CrossRef]
27. S. R. Arridge and J. C. Hebden, “Optical imaging in medicine: II. Modelling and reconstruction,” Phys. Med. Biol. 42(5), 841–853 (1997). [CrossRef]
28. V. Ntziachristos, A. G. Yodh, M. Schnall, and B. Chance, “Concurrent MRI and diffuse optical tomography of breast after indocyanine green enhancement,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97(6), 2767–2772 (2000). [CrossRef]
29. M. Cheikh, H. L. Nghiêm, D. Ettori, E. Tinet, S. Avrillier, and J. M. Tualle, “Time-resolved diffusing wave spectroscopy applied to dynamic heterogeneity imaging,” Opt. Lett. 31(15), 2311–2313 (2006). [CrossRef]
30. A. Khireddine, K. Benmahammed, and W. Puech, “Digital image restoration by Wiener filter in 2D case,” Adv. Eng. Software 38(7), 513–516 (2007). [CrossRef]
31. H. Niu, P. Guo, L. Ji, Q. Zhao, and T. Jiang, “Improving image quality of diffuse optical tomography with a projection-error-based adaptive regularization method,” Opt. Express 16(17), 12423–12434 (2008), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-16-17-12423 . [CrossRef]
32. V. Chernomordik, R. Nossal, and A. H. Gandjbakhche, “Point spread functions of photons in time-resolved transillumination experiments using simple scaling arguments,” Med. Phys. 23(11), 1857–1861 (1996). [CrossRef]
33. V. Chernomordik, A. Gandjbakhche, M. Lepore, R. Esposito, and I. Delfino, “Depth dependence of the analytical expression for the width of the point spread function (spatial resolution) in time-resolved transillumination,” J. Biomed. Opt. 6(4), 441–445 (2001). [CrossRef]
34. S. D. Konecky, G. Y. Panasyuk, K. Lee, V. Markel, A. G. Yodh, and J. C. Schotland, “Imaging complex structures with diffuse light,” Opt. Express 16(7), 5048–5060 (2008), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-16-7-5048 . [CrossRef]
35. E. E. Graves, J. Ripoll, R. Weissleder, and V. Ntziachristos, “A submillimeter resolution fluorescence molecular imaging system for small animal imaging,” Med. Phys. 30(5), 901–911 (2003). [CrossRef]

Adv. Eng. Software

• A. Khireddine, K. Benmahammed, and W. Puech, “Digital image restoration by Wiener filter in 2D case,” Adv. Eng. Software 38(7), 513–516 (2007). [CrossRef]

Appl. Opt.

• A. Li, E. L. Miller, M. E. Kilmer, T. J. Brukilacchio, T. Chaves, J. Stott, Q. Zhang, T. Wu, M. A. Chorlton, R. H. Moore, D. B. Kopans, and D. A. Boas, “Tomographic optical breast imaging guided by three-dimensional mammography,” Appl. Opt. 42(25), 5181–5190 (2003). [CrossRef]
• M. S. Patterson, B. Chance, and B. C. Wilson, “Time resolved reflectance and transmittance for the non-invasive measurement of tissue optical properties,” Appl. Opt. 28(12), 2331–2336 (1989). [CrossRef]
• R. Cubeddu, A. Pifferi, P. Taroni, A. Torricelli, and G. Valentini, “Compact tissue oximeter based on dual-wavelength multichannel time-resolved reflectance,” Appl. Opt. 38(16), 3670–3680 (1999). [CrossRef]
• D. K. Joseph, T. J. Huppert, M. A. Franceschini, and D. A. Boas, “Diffuse optical tomography system to image brain activation with improved spatial resolution and validation with functional magnetic resonance imaging,” Appl. Opt. 45(31), 8142–8151 (2006). [CrossRef]
• A. Liebert, H. Wabnitz, J. Steinbrink, H. Obrig, M. Möller, R. Macdonald, A. Villringer, and H. Rinneberg, “Time-resolved multidistance near-infrared spectroscopy of the adult head: intracerebral and extracerebral absorption changes from moments of distribution of times of flight of photons,” Appl. Opt. 43(15), 3037–3047 (2004). [CrossRef]

Circulation

• J. R. Wilson, D. M. Mancini, K. McCully, N. Ferraro, V. Lanoce, and B. Chance, “Noninvasive detection of skeletal muscle underperfusion with near-infrared spectroscopy in patients with heart failure,” Circulation 80(6), 1668–1674 (1989). [CrossRef]

IEEE Comput. Sci. Eng.

• R. L. Barbour, H. L. Graber, J. W. Chang, S. L. S. Barbour, P. C. Koo, and R. Aronson, “MRI-guided optical tomography: Prospects and computation for a new imaging method,” IEEE Comput. Sci. Eng. 2(4), 63–77 (1995). [CrossRef]

IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Mag.

• S. Takatani and J. Ling, “Optical oximetry sensors for whole blood and tissue,” IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Mag. 13(3), 347–357 (1994). [CrossRef]

J. Biomed. Opt.

• G. Yu, T. Durduran, G. Lech, C. Zhou, B. Chance, E. R. Mohler, and A. G. Yodh, “Time-dependent blood flow and oxygenation in human skeletal muscles measured with noninvasive near-infrared diffuse optical spectroscopies,” J. Biomed. Opt. 10(2), 024027 (2005).
• A. Pifferi, J. Swartling, E. Chikoidze, A. Torricelli, P. Taroni, A. Bassi, S. Andersson-Engels, and R. Cubeddu, “Spectroscopic time-resolved diffuse reflectance and transmittance measurements of the female breast at different interfiber distances,” J. Biomed. Opt. 9(6), 1143–1151 (2004). [CrossRef]
• V. Chernomordik, A. Gandjbakhche, M. Lepore, R. Esposito, and I. Delfino, “Depth dependence of the analytical expression for the width of the point spread function (spatial resolution) in time-resolved transillumination,” J. Biomed. Opt. 6(4), 441–445 (2001). [CrossRef]

Med. Biol. Eng. Comput.

• R. A. De Blasi, S. Fantini, M. A. Franceschini, M. Ferrari, and E. Gratton, “Cerebral and muscle oxygen saturation measurement by frequency-domain near-infra-red spectrometer,” Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 33(2), 228–230 (1995). [CrossRef]

Med. Phys.

• V. Chernomordik, R. Nossal, and A. H. Gandjbakhche, “Point spread functions of photons in time-resolved transillumination experiments using simple scaling arguments,” Med. Phys. 23(11), 1857–1861 (1996). [CrossRef]
• E. E. Graves, J. Ripoll, R. Weissleder, and V. Ntziachristos, “A submillimeter resolution fluorescence molecular imaging system for small animal imaging,” Med. Phys. 30(5), 901–911 (2003). [CrossRef]

Med. Sci. Sports Exerc.

• T. Hamaoka, H. Iwane, T. Katsumura, T. Shimomitsu, N. Murase, S. Nishio, T. Osada, T. Sako, H. Higuchi, M. Miwa, and B. Chance, “The quantitative measures of muscle oxygenation by near infrared time-resolved spectroscopy,” Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 28(Supplement), 62 (1996).

Neuroimage

• A. P. Gibson, T. Austin, N. L. Everdell, M. Schweiger, S. R. Arridge, J. H. Meek, J. S. Wyatt, D. T. Delpy, and J. C. Hebden, “Three-dimensional whole-head optical tomography of passive motor evoked responses in the neonate,” Neuroimage 30(2), 521–528 (2006). [CrossRef]

Opt. Express

• M. A. Franceschini, V. Toronov, M. Filiaci, E. Gratton, and S. Fantini, “On-line optical imaging of the human brain with 160-ms temporal resolution,” Opt. Express 6(3), 49–57 (2000), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-6-3-49 . [CrossRef]
• S. D. Konecky, G. Y. Panasyuk, K. Lee, V. Markel, A. G. Yodh, and J. C. Schotland, “Imaging complex structures with diffuse light,” Opt. Express 16(7), 5048–5060 (2008), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-16-7-5048 . [CrossRef]
• H. Niu, P. Guo, L. Ji, Q. Zhao, and T. Jiang, “Improving image quality of diffuse optical tomography with a projection-error-based adaptive regularization method,” Opt. Express 16(17), 12423–12434 (2008), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-16-17-12423 . [CrossRef]
• P. K. Yalavarthy, B. W. Pogue, H. Dehghani, C. M. Carpenter, S. Jiang, and K. D. Paulsen, “Structural information within regularization matrices improves near infrared diffuse optical tomography,” Opt. Express 15(13), 8043–8058 (2007), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-15-13-8043 . [CrossRef]

Opt. Lett.

• M. Cheikh, H. L. Nghiêm, D. Ettori, E. Tinet, S. Avrillier, and J. M. Tualle, “Time-resolved diffusing wave spectroscopy applied to dynamic heterogeneity imaging,” Opt. Lett. 31(15), 2311–2313 (2006). [CrossRef]

Phys. Med. Biol.

• D. Grosenick, K. T. Moesta, M. Möller, J. Mucke, H. Wabnitz, B. Gebauer, C. Stroszczynski, B. Wassermann, P. M. Schlag, and H. Rinneberg, “Time-domain scanning optical mammography: I. Recording and assessment of mammograms of 154 patients,” Phys. Med. Biol. 50(11), 2429–2449 (2005). [CrossRef]
• D. Grosenick, H. Wabnitz, K. T. Moesta, J. Mucke, P. M. Schlag, and H. Rinneberg, “Time-domain scanning optical mammography: II. Optical properties and tissue parameters of 87 carcinomas,” Phys. Med. Biol. 50(11), 2451–2468 (2005). [CrossRef]
• P. Taroni, A. Torricelli, L. Spinelli, A. Pifferi, F. Arpaia, G. Danesini, and R. Cubeddu, “Time-resolved optical mammography between 637 and 985 nm: clinical study on the detection and identification of breast lesions,” Phys. Med. Biol. 50(11), 2469–2488 (2005). [CrossRef]
• A. H. Hielscher, S. L. Jacques, L. Wang, and F. K. Tittel, “The influence of boundary conditions on the accuracy of diffusion theory in time-resolved reflectance spectroscopy of biological tissues,” Phys. Med. Biol. 40(11), 1957–1975 (1995). [CrossRef]
• S. R. Arridge and J. C. Hebden, “Optical imaging in medicine: II. Modelling and reconstruction,” Phys. Med. Biol. 42(5), 841–853 (1997). [CrossRef]
• J. C. Hebden, A. Gibson, R. M. Yusof, N. Everdell, E. M. C. Hillman, D. T. Delpy, S. R. Arridge, T. Austin, J. H. Meek, and J. S. Wyatt, “Three-dimensional optical tomography of the premature infant brain,” Phys. Med. Biol. 47(23), 4155–4166 (2002). [CrossRef]
• E. M. C. Hillman, J. C. Hebden, M. Schweiger, H. Dehghani, F. E. W. Schmidt, D. T. Delpy, and S. R. Arridge, “Time resolved optical tomography of the human forearm,” Phys. Med. Biol. 46(4), 1117–1130 (2001). [CrossRef]
• A. Kienle and T. Glanzmann, “In vivo determination of the optical properties of muscle with time-resolved reflectance using a layered model,” Phys. Med. Biol. 44(11), 2689–2702 (1999). [CrossRef]

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

• V. Ntziachristos, A. G. Yodh, M. Schnall, and B. Chance, “Concurrent MRI and diffuse optical tomography of breast after indocyanine green enhancement,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97(6), 2767–2772 (2000). [CrossRef]

Science

• F. F. Jöbsis, “Noninvasive, infrared monitoring of cerebral and myocardial oxygen sufficiency and circulatory parameters,” Science 198(4323), 1264–1267 (1977). [CrossRef]

Technol. Cancer Res. Treat.

• S. Srinivasan, B. W. Pogue, B. Brooksby, S. Jiang, H. Dehghani, C. Kogel, W. A. Wells, S. P. Poplack, and K. D. Paulsen, “Near-infrared characterization of breast tumors in vivo using spectrally-constrained reconstruction,” Technol. Cancer Res. Treat. 4(5), 513–526 (2005).

Other

• B. Wassermann, A. Kummrow, K. T. Moesta, D. Grosenick, J. Mucke, H. Wabnitz, M. Möller, R. Macdonald, P. M. Schlag, and H. Rinneberg, “In-vivo tissue optical properties derived by linear perturbation theory for edge-corrected time-domain mammograms”, Op. Express 13, 8571–8583 (2005), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-13-21-8571 [CrossRef]
• D. Boas, J. Culver, J. Stott, and A. Dunn, “Three dimensional Monte Carlo code for photon migration through complex heterogeneous media including the adult human head”, Op. Express 10, 159–170 (2002), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-10-3-159

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