title: Photoacoustic technique for assessing optical scattering properties of turbid media.
abstract: Measurement of tissue optical properties impacts both optical diagnostic and theraputic applications. Although existing photoacoustic imaging techniques provide optical absorption contrast, we present a photoacoustic technique that demonstrates sensitivity to the optical scattering coefficient of a turbid medium. By incrementing the distance between a surface illumination spot and a subsurface absorber and measuring the photoacoustic amplitude of the absorber, we can effectively estimate the Green's function of light transport in a turbid medium. Our results for different concentrations of Intralipid indicate that this technique has the ability to distinguish small changes of the reduced scattering coefficient. It has the potential to be used for in vivo studies to obtain reduced scattering coefficients of biological tissues. These findings will potentially improve the calculation of subcutaneous fluence in photoacoustic-based techniques and laser dosimetry studies in live tissues.
authors.forename: Janaka C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ranasinghesagara
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jian
authors.forename: Xuhui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kory
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mathewson
authors.forename: Roger J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Zemp
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D033401:Microscopy, Acoustic / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D009391:Nephelometry and Turbidimetry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity