The Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) using γ-radiotracers has been established as a standard technique in the physiological and functional Nuclear Imaging. However, anatomical in- formation of the surrounding tissue structure is basically limited by this modality. Therefore, additional techniques, possibly non-ionizing, must be utilized in order to gain such knowledge. SPECT can be alter- natively supported by adding a Time-Resolved Optical Tomographic (TROT) modality. The current work focuses on the feasibility of such a free-off ionizing, compact and low cost optical system. The architecture and the functionality of a time resolving optical construction, by means of a Monte-Carlo optical simulation, is presented in this study. An appropriate geometrical phantom is examined and a total of 24 projections covering the full angle region (0o −360o) are obtained with this optical system. The planar information was further analyzed to reconstruct the tomographic images using Algebraic Reconstruction Techniques (ART). Obtained results from the simulation are presented and the system’s efficiency, regarding spatial and time resolution, is discussed.
BabyLux device: a diffuse optical system integrating diffuse correlation spectroscopy and time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy for the neuromonitoring of the premature newborn brain
