We present a broad-band, continuous wave spectral approach to quantify the baseline optical properties of tissue, in particular the absolute absorption and scattering properties and changes in the concentrations of chromophores, which can assist to quantify the regional blood flow from dynamic contrast-enhanced near-infrared spectroscopy data. Experiments were conducted on phantoms and piglets. The baseline optical properties of tissue were determined by performing a multi-parameter wavelength-dependent differential data fit of the near infrared reflectance spectrum between 680 nm and 970 nm of a photon diffusion equation solution for a semi-infinite homogeneous medium. These baseline optical properties of the piglet head tissue were used to quantify the temporal dynamics of the concentration of the intravenously administered contrast agent Indocyanine Green in the piglet brain. The temporal traces of the Indocyanine Green concentration measured by our method were used to estimate the cerebral blood flow using a bolus tracking technique.
Influence of extracerebral layers on estimates of optical properties with continuous wave near infrared spectroscopy: analysis based on multi-layered brain tissue architecture and Monte Carlo simulation
