The scope of this work was to determine the Kubelka-Munk scattering and absorption coefficients of healthy and atherosclerotic animal model aorta, from 200 to 1100 nm. Furthermore, using the measured and calculated optical properties, special algorithms were developed in order to discriminate healthy from diseased aorta. Diffuse reflectance and total transmittance were measured via a dual beam diffuse reflectance spectrometer. Inverse Kubelka-Munk Model was applied to calculate the diffusion scattering and absorption coefficients. Diffuse absorption coefficients varied from ~200 cm^-1 at 300 nm to ~3 cm^-1 at 1100 nm. Kubelka-Munk scattering coefficients ranged from ~100 cm^-1 at 200 nm to ~6 cm^-1 at 1100 nm. Appropriate discrimination algorithms were developed in order to characterize a specimen as healthy or atherosclerotic. The first algorithm was based on the ratio of diffuse reflectance to the reflectance in infinity. The gradient of this ratio at 390 and 440 nm effectively separated healthy from atherosclerotic aorta. The discrimination between the two groups was succeeded using multivariate statistical analysis and verified by histopathology. The second discrimination algorithm was based on the ratio of diffuse reflectance to the baseline reflectance of each specimen. Effective discrimination of healthy and atherosclerotic aorta was achieved at 370 and 500 nm.

Date Published: 7 October 2005
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 5862, Diagnostic Optical Spectroscopy in Biomedicine III, 586212 (7 October 2005); doi: 10.1117/12.633043

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5862:
Diagnostic Optical Spectroscopy in Biomedicine III
Mary-Ann Mycek, Editor(s)