Optical characterization of mammalian tissues by laser reflectometry and Monte Carlo simulation.

The optical characterization of various goat organs/tissues, by measurement of the spatial variation of the diffuse reflectance from the surface by laser multi-probe reflectometer, is carried out. For determination of the optical parameters, these profiles are matched by iterative procedures with that obtained by Monte Carlo simulation by best-fit procedure with chi value 0.99. The first set of measurements is carried out with milk phantom. Thereafter, the absorption and scattering coefficients and anisotropy parameter of goat's heart, lungs, kidney, liver, spleen, skeletal muscle, brain and adipose tissues are measured. These parameters vary over a wide range, which is in agreement with results reported by others. Based on these data, their laser scattering profiles along the depth in terms of depth of penetration (DP) and maximum scattered beam width (MSBW) are determined. These are maximum (0.030 and 0.038 m) for kidney and minimum (0.007 and 0.006 m) for spleen, respectively. The backscattered intensity measured 0.002, 0.004 and 0.006 m away from the beam entry point shows the maximum contribution from the respective depths, irrespective of the nature of the organs/tissues.