In vivo quantification of the scattering properties of tissue using multi-diameter single fiber reflectance spectroscopy

Multi diameter single fiber reflectance (MDSFR) spectroscopy is a non-invasive optical technique based on using multiple fibers of different diameters to determine both the reduced scattering coefficient (μs') and a parameter γ that is related to the angular distribution of scattering, where γ = (1-g2)/(1-g1) and g1 and g2 the first and second moment of the phase function, respectively. Here we present the first in vivo MDSFR measurements of μs'(λ) and γ(λ) and their wavelength dependence. MDSFR is performed on nineteen mice in four tissue types including skin, liver, normal tongue and in an orthotopic oral squamous cell carcinoma. The wavelength-dependent slope of μs'(λ) (scattering power) is significantly higher for tongue and skin than for oral cancer and liver. The reduced scattering coefficient at 800 nm of oral cancer is significantly higher than of normal tongue and liver. Gamma generally increases with increasing wavelength; for tumor it increases monotonically with wavelength, while for skin, liver and tongue γ(λ) reaches a plateau or even decreases for longer wavelengths. The mean γ(λ) in the wavelength range 400-850 nm is highest for liver (1.87 ± 0.07) and lowest for skin (1.37 ± 0.14). Gamma of tumor and normal tongue falls in between these values where tumor exhibits a higher average γ(λ) (1.72 ± 0.09) than normal tongue (1.58 ± 0.07). This study shows the potential of using light scattering spectroscopy to optically characterize tissue in vivo.