Optical Transmission and Reflection by Blood

The results of calculations which use diffusion equations for photons to calculate optical transmission and backscattering by whole blood will be compared with a variety of published data. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the usefulness of the diffusion theory approach to the optics of blood and to present information concerning the dependence of the scattering and absorption parameters for blood on the pertinent variables such as hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, and optical wavelength.