Recent Advances in the Laser Radiation Transport through the Head Tissues of Humans and Animals – A Review

Alaa Sabeeh; Valery V. Tuchin

doi:10.18287/JBPE20.06.040201

Recent Advances in the Laser Radiation Transport through the Head Tissues of Humans and Animals – A Review

Alaa Sabeeh
Research-Educational Institute of Optics and Biophotonics, Saratov State University, Russia

Valery V. Tuchin (Login required)
Research-Educational Institute of Optics and Biophotonics, Saratov State University, Russia
Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Biophotonics, National Research Tomsk State University, Russia
Laboratory of Laser Diagnostics of Technical and Living Systems, Institute of Precision Mechanics and Control of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saratov, Russia

Paper #3393 received 15 Nov 2020; revised manuscript received 18 Dec 2020; accepted for publication 18 Dec 2020; published online 31 Dec 2020.

DOI: 10.18287/JBPE20.06.040201

Abstract

Modern studies of the penetration of light into biological tissues is becoming very important in various medical applications. This is an important factor for determining the optical dose in many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The absorption and scattering properties of the tissue under study determine how deeply the light will penetrate into the tissue. However, these optical properties are highly dependent on the wavelength of the light source and tissue condition. This overview paper analyzes the transmission of light through different areas of human and animal head tissues, and the optimal laser wavelength and power density required to reach different parts of the brain are determined using lasers with different wavelengths by comparing the distribution of fluence, penetration depth and the mechanism of interaction between laser light and head tissues. The power variation in different regions of the head is presented, as estimated using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Data are analyzed for the absorption and scattering coefficients of the head tissue layers (scalp, skull, brain), calculated using integrating sphere measurements and inverse problem solving algorithms such as inverse MC (IMC) and adding-doubling (IAD). This study not only offered a quantitative comparison between wavelengths in terms of light transmission efficiency, but also anticipated the exciting opportunity for online, accurate and visible optimization of LLLT lighting parameters.

Keywords

transcranial laser irradiation; tissue scattering; optical transmission; tissue optics; photothermal effects; nonlinear interactions; temperature; tissue damage; photochemical processes; PDT; LLLT

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