title: Fluorescence-lifetime-based tomography for turbid media.
abstract: We derive a novel algorithm to recover the in vivo distributions of fluorophores based on an asymptotic life-time analysis of time-domain fluorescence measurements with turbid tissue. We experimentally demonstrate the advantage offered by this method in localizing fluorophores with distinct lifetimes. This algorithm has wide applicability for diagnostic fluorescence imaging in the presence of several-centimeter-thick biological tissue, since fluorescence lifetime is a sensitive indicator of local tissue environment and interactions at the molecular level.
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA. ankumar@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Anand T N
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skoch
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bacskai
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Boas
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dunn
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D009391:Nephelometry and Turbidimetry / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D041622:Tomography, Optical / Q000379:methods*