Three-dimensional imaging of a tissuelike phantom by diffusion optical tomography

Three-dimensional imaging of three small absorbers embedded in a tissuelike cylindrical solid phantom was conducted by diffusion optical tomography. Each absorber, which was 10 mm in diameter and 10 mm high, was located on the same plane in a phantom, which was 80 mm in diameter and 140 mm high. The optical properties of the phantom were similar to those of the human breast; that is, one absorber had lower absorption and the other two absorbers had higher absorption than that of the phantom. Reemission from the phantom was measured with a multichannel photon counting system. Image reconstruction was performed by our average value method. We were able to distinguish lower and higher absorbers quantitatively. This result shows that our method can diagnose not only the existence of but also a morbid state of breast cancer. © 2001 Optical Society of America.