Robert Paul Francis
Published: 2015
Total Pages: 162
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Optical light propagation in biological tissues guides medical instrument design for diagnosis and treatment of disease. While many instruments are already commercially available and approved for patient use, it is important to continue to push the envelope of new technology development by analyzing new techniques and phenomena of light-tissue interaction. Technology development is necessary for endoscopic surgery because there are still occurrences of injury due to inadequate imaging of anatomy. To aid in future endoscopic instrument design, this dissertation explores the propagation of 1430-1450 nm light in visceral fat, gall bladder, and water as it relates to endoscopic gastroenterological surgery. Technology development is also necessary for traumatic brain injury (TBI) because diagnosis outside of hospitals is currently inadequate to catch all occurrences of the injury. To guide future instrument development, this dissertation explores the propagation of 750-1050 nm light in cranium, brain, and blood as it relates to detection and monitoring of hematomas associated with TBI. The dissertation is organized into two parts of three chapters each: (Part I) Diffuse Optical Transmission through Visceral Fat Tissue, and (Part II) Diffuse Optical Reflectance for Traumatic Brain Injury. Within Part I, the chapters are: (1) Introduction and Modeling of Transmission, (2) Instrumentation Setup and Experimentation Results, and (3) Exploration of Heterogeneities. Within Part II, the chapters are: (4) Introduction and Modeling of Reflectance, (5) Simulation Results and Applications to TBI, and (6) Modeling Optical Probe Efficiency through Hair.