Optical Scanning System for Imaging of Heterogeneity in Biological Tissues

Abstract

A non-invasive hand-held optical probe for imaging of biological tissues consists of nine units. Each unit is equipped with one red LED and three photodetectors placed at distances 7, 12, and 17 mm from the source along the x-axis. For testing, three phantoms of paraffin wax are embedded with solid inhomogeneity placed at various depths. Human biological tissues consisting of right index finger, four fingers of the same hand, and a part of the forearm below elbow joint are used. The data on optical backscattering are collected by moving the probe on the surface of phantom/tissue and after processing the respective images are obtained. Three images of the index finger show the tissue structural variation in various layers, which are in agreement with anatomical details and radiograph of the finger. The tissue details of four fingers are in agreement with that of individual finger. Similarly, the three images of the forearm show the structural variation. These observations suggest that the present technique may be used to detect tissue compositional changes below the skin.