Towards accurate in vivo spectroscopy of the human prostate.
The recent interest in photodynamic therapy of human prostate cancer is accompanied by a need for techniques for in vivo monitoring of optical and physiological characteristics. We propose time-of-flight (TOF) spectroscopy in combination with Monte Carlo evaluation as a reliable optical technique for quantitative assessment of absorption, scattering, hemoglobin content and tissue oxygenation in the human prostate. For the first time, we demonstrate Monte Carlo-based evaluation of in vivo TOF photon migration data. We show that this approach is crucial in order to avoid the large errors associated with the use of time-resolved diffusion theory of light propagation in prostate-like tissues. This progress also allows us to present the first in vivo scattering spectroscopy of human prostate tissue. Furthermore, TOF spectroscopy, in contrast to the more common steady-state approach, is insensitive to bleedings, and has been found highly reliable (100% success rate).
Department of Physics, Lund University, Sweden. tomas.svensson@fysik.lth.se
Tomas
T
Svensson
Erik
E
Alerstam
Margrét
M
Einarsdóttír
Katarina
K
Svanberg
Stefan
S
Andersson-Engels
D001918:Brachytherapy; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D011467:Prostate / Q000378:metabolism*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000532:radiotherapy; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D006454:Hemoglobins; D010100:Oxygen