Effects of near infrared sensor distribution upon reconstructed optical properties of simultaneous ultrasound and NIR imaging

We have developed a combined ultrasound and near infrared imaging system for breast cancer detection. Since the combined imaging requires both ultrasound array and NIR sensors be deployed on the same probe for co-registration, the effects of missing optical sensors in the middle of the probe upon the accuracy of the reconstructed optical properties have been evaluated and the optimal distribution of near infrared (NIR) sensors for the combined ultrasound and optical imaging has been demonstrated. The simulation results have shown that the accuracy of optical reconstruction can be achieved as long as the missing optical sensor area is less than 2 cm by 2 cm. The simulation results will be verified by experiments.