Abstract

Diffuse reflective optical measurement is a useful approach for monitoring the oxygen consumption of living tissue such as brain and muscle. To improve the oxygen consumption measurement accuracy, we propose a method for suppressing the near-surface sensitivity. Diffuse reflective light is detected at the aperture used for irradiating the light and is used as a cancellation signal for near-field sensitivity in the conventional measurement scheme. Photon fluence density functions and positional dependences of detected light sensitivity to change in absorbance were simulated. The sensitivity detected at the same position (aperture) as irradiation was significantly high for the near-surface region. With our method, the near-surface sensitivity is reduced by more than 90% while keeping target sensitivity almost constant (only 3% deterioration). The near-surface and deep-field sensitivity was measured with a phantom with light (785 nm) modulated at 1 kHz through an optical fiber bundle. It confirmed suppressed the near-surface sensitivity by subtracting the light detected at the same aperture from the light detected at another aperture.

© 2007 SPIE