| Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is a new medical imaging technique that combines biomedical optics with the principles of computed tomography. We use DOT to quantitatively reconstruct images of complex phantoms with millimeter sized features located centimeters deep within a highly-scattering medium. A non-contact instrument is employed to collect large data sets consisting of greater than 107 source-detector pairs. Images are reconstructed using a fast image reconstruction algorithm based on an analytic solution to the inverse scattering problem for diffuse light. We also describe a next generation DOT breast imaging device for frequency domain transmission data acquisition in the parallel plate geometry. Frequency domain heterodyne measurements are made by intensity modulating a continuous wave laser source with an electro-optic modulator (EOM) and detecting the transmitted light with a gain-modulated image intensifier coupled to a CCD. Finally, we acquire and compare three-dimensional tomographic breast images of three females with suspicious masses using DOT and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Co-registration of DOT and PET images is facilitated by a mutual information maximization algorithm. We also compare DOT and whole-body PET images of 14 patients with breast abnormalities. Positive correlations are found between both total hemoglobin concentration and tissue scattering, and fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake. |
