title: Simulation-based evaluation of the resolution and quantitative accuracy of temperature-modulated fluorescence tomography.
abstract: Conventional fluorescence tomography (FT) can recover the distribution of fluorescent agents within a highly scattering medium. However, poor spatial resolution remains its foremost limitation. Previously, we introduced a new fluorescence imaging technique termed "temperature-modulated fluorescence tomography" (TM-FT), which provides high-resolution images of fluorophore distribution. TM-FT is a multimodality technique that combines fluorescence imaging with focused ultrasound to locate thermo-sensitive fluorescence probes using a priori spatial information to drastically improve the resolution of conventional FT. In this paper, we present an extensive simulation study to evaluate the performance of the TM-FT technique on complex phantoms with multiple fluorescent targets of various sizes located at different depths. In addition, the performance of the TM-FT is tested in the presence of background fluorescence. The results obtained using our new method are systematically compared with those obtained with the conventional FT. Overall, TM-FT provides higher resolution and superior quantitative accuracy, making it an ideal candidate for in vivo preclinical and clinical imaging. For example, a 4 mm diameter inclusion positioned in the middle of a synthetic slab geometry phantom (D:40  mm×W:100  mm) is recovered as an elongated object in the conventional FT (x=4.5  mm; y=10.4  mm), while TM-FT recovers it successfully in both directions (x=3.8  mm; y=4.6  mm). As a result, the quantitative accuracy of the TM-FT is superior because it recovers the concentration of the agent with a 22% error, which is in contrast with the 83% error of the conventional FT.
authors.forename: Yuting
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Farouk
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nouizi
authors.forename: Tiffany C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Kwong
authors.forename: Gultekin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gulsen
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004058:Diffusion; D005453:Fluorescence; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008027:Light; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016011:Normal Distribution; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011312:Pressure; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D013696:Temperature; D041622:Tomography, Optical / Q000379:methods; D014465:Ultrasonics
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes