A specific feature of the procedure for determination of optical properties of turbid biological tissues and media in calculation tasks of medical noninvasive spectrophotometry

: The goal of this work is to discuss the problems of accuracy and reliability of the procedure for determination of optical per-unit-length properties of light-scattering biological tissues and media in medical noninvasive spectrophotometry. The determination procedure is based on the two-flux Kubelka-Munk approach. A simple one-dimensional model problem is formulated. The accurate solution of this problem is compared to its solution based on the Kubelka-Munk approach in various approximations. It is shown that in the general case of light-scattering and absorbing medium use of two independent transport coefficients (for scattering and absorption processes), as suggested in the conventional Kubelka-Munk approach, leads to errors of direct calculation of properties of backscattered and transmitted radiation in biological tissues. More valid and accurate expressions for transport coefficients can be obtained on the basis of a particular solution of the problem for a surface element of the model medium with known photometrical properties. This method makes it possible to determine accurately the radiation flux at the external boundary of the medium using the Kubelka-Munk approach. It is expected that solution of the inverse problem would make it possible to reconstruct accurately the optical properties of biological tissues from the experimental data.