LASER-GENERATED DIFFUSION TOMOGRAMS IN THE NEAR-INFRARED

The method for laser-generated tomograms using photon density waves (P DW) on the basis of optical tissue properties is investigated. An anal ytical solution for these parameters as a function of attenuation and phase lag of the PDW is described. The partial deviations of these fun ction are discussed due to the sensitivity of the method. Existing alg orithms for tomographic image reconstruction are discussed with respec t to near-infrared optical tomography. New methods for image improveme nt, taking into account the modulation transfer function and the asymm etrical properties of the photon pathways, are considered. As a first experimental result,the optical tomogram of a rat brain is presented.