“Spectral a priori” to “spatial a posteriori” in continuous-wave image reconstruction in near-infrared optical tomography

This work examines the robustness of spectral prior to continuous-wave based, with respect to frequency domain based, image reconstruction for unique recovering of chromophores and scattering property distributions. An analytical model for parametric uncertainty in recovering optical property is derived, which afterwards is implemented for optimized selection of wavelengths and quality estimation of the image. Simulation results agree with the theoretical predictions in the following aspects: 1) the proposed analytical model is capable of selecting the optimal set of wavelengths for CWbased spectral reconstruction; 2) with sufficient number of wavelengths, DC-only reconstruction can resolve the concentrations of several important chromophores and scattering parameters, with the accuracy and background artifact level equivalent to those by DC-excluded or DC-included frequency-domain reconstructions; and 3) including DC in frequency-domain reconstruction generally improves reconstruction outcome as compared to when neglecting DC.