PARAMETRIC STUDY OF TISSUE OPTICAL CLEARING BY LOCALIZED MECHANICAL COMPRESSION USING COMBINED FINITE ELEMENT AND MONTE CARLO SIMULATION.

Tissue Optical Clearing Devices (TOCDs) have been shown to increase light transmission through mechanically compressed regions of naturally turbid biological tissues. We hypothesize that zones of high compressive strain induced by TOCD pins produce localized water displacement and reversible changes in tissue optical properties. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel combined mechanical finite element model and optical Monte Carlo model which simulates TOCD pin compression of an ex vivo porcine skin sample and modified spatial photon fluence distributions within the tissue. Results of this simulation qualitatively suggest that light transmission through the skin can be significantly affected by changes in compressed tissue geometry as well as concurrent changes in tissue optical properties. The development of a comprehensive multi-domain model of TOCD application to tissues such as skin could ultimately be used as a framework for optimizing future design of TOCDs.