Apparatus and process for the spatially resolved optical determination of density distributions in biological tissues

US5610399A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Carl Zeiss Stiftung · DE

Inventors

• Gerhard Muller · Grafing, DE
• Jurgen Beuthan · Bad Saarow, DE
• Olaf Minet · Berlin, DE
• Michael Kaschke · Oberkochen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 6, 1994
• Grant date: Mar 11, 1997
• Expiry date: Sep 6, 2014

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N21/4795
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A process for the optical spatially resolved determination of density distributions in biological tissues includes as a first step irradiating a biological tissue by directing a locally confined beam of electromagnetic radiation at an incidence position of the tissue; keeping the incidence position fixed; determining the thickness of the tissue being irradiated; and sensing and recording the directly transmitted radiation component and the scattered radiation component in a spatially resolved manner over a defined spatial angle. As a second step, the incidence position is changed and the first step is repeated. As a third step, the second step is repeated a number of times to obtain a reconstructive representation of the tissue through which the radiation has passed, based on the spatially resolved recordings of the transmitted and scattered radiation components and the tissue thickness as determined in each repetition of the first step.