Accurately characterized optical tissue phantoms: how, why and when?

Optical tissue phantoms are very important tools for the development of biomedical imaging applications. Optical phantoms are often used as ground truth against which instruments results can be compared. It is therefore important that the optical properties of reference phantoms be measured in a manner that is traceable to the international system of units. SI traceability insures long term consistency of results and will therefore improve the effectiveness of diffuse optics research effort more effective by reducing unwanted variability in the data produced and shared by the community. The ultimate benefit of rigorous SI traceability is the reduction of variability in the data produced by novel diagnostic devices, which will in turn increase the statistical power of clinical trials aiming at validating their clinical usefulness. SI traceability, and therefore uncertainty analysis, is also relevant to traceability aspects mandated by FDA regulations. SI traceability is achieved through a thorough analysis of the measurement principle and its potential error sources. The uncertainty analysis should be ultimately validated by inter-laboratory comparison until a consensus is attained on the best practices for measuring the optical properties of tissue phantoms.