title: Improved solutions of the steady-state and the time-resolved diffusion equations for reflectance from a semi-infinite turbid medium.
abstract: Improved solutions of the diffusion equation for time-resolved and steady-state spatially resolved reflectance are investigated for the determination of the optical coefficients of semi-infinite turbid media such as tissue. These solutions are derived for different boundary conditions at the turbid-medium-air interface and are compared with Monte Carlo simulations. Relative reflectance data are fitted in the time domain, whereas relative and absolute reflectance are investigated in the steady-state domain. It is shown that the error in deriving the optical coefficients is, especially for steady-state spatially resolved reflectance, considerably smaller for the solutions under study than for the commonly used solutions. Analysis of experimental measurements of absolute steady-state spatially resolved reflectance confirms these results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, Hamilton Regional Cancer Centre and McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kienle
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Patterson
mesh_terms: D004058:Diffusion; D008027:Light; D008433:Mathematics; D012031:Refractometry; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012996:Solutions
chemical_list: D012996:Solutions