Total attenuation coefficients and scattering phase functions of tissues and phantom materials at 633 nm

Abstract
Measurements have been made of the total attenuation coefficient .SIGMA., and the scattering phase function, S .theta., of 632.8 nm of light for a number animal model tissues, blood, and inert scattering and absorbing media. Polystyrene microspheres of known size and refractive index, for which .SIGMA., and .SIGMA. can be calculated by Mie theory, were used to test the experimental methods. The purpose of the study was to define typical ranges for these optical properties of tissues, as a contribution to the development of experimental and theoretical methods of light dosimetry in tissue, particularly related to photodynamic therapy of solid tumors. The results demonstate that, for the representative tissues studied, the total attenuation coefficients are of the order of 10-100 mm-1, and that scattering is highly forward peaked, with average cosine of scatter in the range 0.6-0.97.
Funding Information
  • National Cancer Institute of Canada