Adaptively Alternative Light-Transport-Model-Based Three-Dimensional Optical Imaging for Longitudinal and Quantitative Monitoring of Gastric Cancer in Live Animal

Objective
: The existence of void regions and the complexity of structural heterogeneity and optical specificity are two challenges encountered in three-dimensional (3-D) optical imaging of
in situ
gastric cancer. An adaptively alternative light-transport-model-based 3-D optical imaging method was developed for addressing these challenges.
Methods
: In this newly developed imaging method, both the anatomical structure and optical properties are considered as
a priori
information, which makes the full use of the specificity of the biological tissues and improves both the quality and efficiency of the reconstructed images. The soul of the adaptively alternative technique is technique is configured to first classify the tissues based on the anatomical structure and optical properties and then select various equations to specifically characterize the light transport in different categories of tissues.
Results
: A series of rigorous simulations were conducted to demonstrate the performance of the hybrid light transport model, and the quality of the reconstructed images was then evaluated using a digital-mouse-based gastric cancer mimicing simulation, which showed that the localization error was less than 1 mm and the quantification error was approximately 10%. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method for
in vivo
imaging of gastric cancer was illustrated using groups of gastric cancer-bearing mice, which demonstrated the ability of the proposed method for longitudinal and quantitative monitoring of gastric cancer.
Conclusion
: The developed method offers improved probability and great potential in the applications of earlier detecting
in situ
gastric cancer and longitudinal and quantitative observation of its development.