title: Perturbation theory for diffuse light transport in complex biological tissues.
abstract: A perturbation theory for the forward problem of optical transport in turbid media is developed. It is applicable to media with scattering and absorption in homogeneties and steady-state and modulated light. Absorbing perturbations can be described by a volume distribution of virtual sources that primarily causes a monopole perturbation light field. Scattering objects have an additional contribution that, in the limiting case of sharply bounded objects, is represented by a surface distribution of virtual sources and causes a dipolelike perturbation pattern. Using the concept of virtual sources, we discuss a possible ambiguity between the perturbations from scattering and absorbing inhomogeneities and the implications for the source-detector placement in inverse problems. We show that the surface effects due to sharp boundaries of scattering objects pose both a numerical problem and a chance to improve the resolution of inverse algorithms.
authors.affiliation: Laser Biology Research Laboratory, University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030, USA.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ostermeyer
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Jacques
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000465:Algorithms; D008027:Light; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012996:Solutions
chemical_list: D012996:Solutions