Influence of the scattering phase function in numerical modeling of hyperspectral imaging

摘要

In simulations of light transport in biological tissues and organs knowledge of tissue optical properties is imperative for realism of the predicted effects. One factor which is commonly overlooked is the choice of appropriate scattering phase function. Henyey-Greenstein phase function (PF) is often applied due to its suitability for analytical derivations and availability of the corresponding tissue anisotropy factors. At the same time it is known that it doesn't match the angular distribution of scattering in many tissues. In here, we study the influence of the PF in 3D Monte Carlo simulations of hyperspectral imaging (HSI). For a simple geometrical (three-layered) model of skin and a discrete blood vessel, hyperspectral images in the 400-1000 nm spectral range were simulated using Henyey-Greenstein, modified Henyey-Greenstein, and Mie PF, respectively. The results are compared in the spatial and spectral domains. In addition, the effective tissue properties as determined from the simulated HSI using 1D inverse MC are compared with the input parameter values. The results show that the choice of PF assumed in light transport models has a substantial impact on simulated HSI. Using an inappropriate PF can result in significantly altered HSI and considerable artifacts in extracted values of the skin parameters.