Transillumination imaging performance using time domain data

Light propagation in highly scattering media can be numerically simulated by solving the diffusion equation by the finite element method (FEM). Employing an iterative algorithm, the FEM solution of the forward problem is applied to the inverse imaging problem. Good test results were previously achieved when absorbers were searched in different objects. Now the reconstruction of scattering is also taken into account. Simulated measurement data are used to test and evaluate the method at various objects with tissue-like properties. Resulting problems are very ill posed. The algorithm is specially adapted to the illposedness of the problem. Improvements in reconstruction results can be achieved in two ways, first by adapting the detector arrangements and, secondly, by using a regularization strategy. The effectiveness of these methods is demonstrated by instructive examples.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.