Review of methods and applications of attenuation coefficient measurements with optical coherence tomography
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The optical attenuation coefficient (AC), an important tissue parameter that measures how quickly incident light is attenuated when passing through a medium, has been shown to enable quantitative analysis of tissue properties from optical coherence tomography (OCT) signals. Successful extraction of this parameter would facilitate tissue differentiation and enhance the diagnostic value of OCT. In this review, we discuss the physical and mathematical basis of AC extraction from OCT data, including current approaches used in modeling light scattering in tissue and in AC estimation. We also report on demonstrated clinical applications of the AC, such as for atherosclerotic tissue characterization, malignant lesion detection, and brain injury visualization. With current studies showing AC analysis as a promising technique, further efforts in the development of methods to accurately extract the AC and to explore its potential use for more extensive clinical applications are desired.
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With scattering present, it is accepted that beyond the mean free path a form of the Beer Lambert law can be written with the attenuation written as e−μs′l, where depth is l and the reduced scattering coefficient is μs′.
“With scattering present it is accepted that beyond the mean free path a form of the Beer Lambert law can be written with the attenuation written as e−μs′l, where depth is l and the reduced scattering coefficient is μs′.52,53”
From Effect of skin color on optical properties and the implications for medical optical technologies: a review (2024) · cites this paper as [53]
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Setchfield, K., Gorman, A., Simpson, A. H. R. W., Somekh, M. G., & Wright, A. J. (2024) · Journal of Biomedical Optics · doi:10.1117/1.jbo.29.1.010901 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
- Authors
- Chang, S., & Bowden, A. K.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bowden, Audrey K.
- Venue
- Journal of Biomedical Optics
- Publisher
- SPIE-Intl Soc Optical Eng
- Published
- 2019-09-13
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 09
- Pages
- 1-17
- ISSN
- 1083-3668 (ISSN-L)
- 1560-2281
- PMC
- PMC6997582
- OpenAlex
- W2972776817
- Cited by
- 99
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 11
- FWCI
- 0.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Biomedical Optics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Optical Coherence Tomography Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Techniques
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Spectroscopy Techniques in Biomedical and Chemical Research
- Keywords
- optical attenuation coefficient, optical coherence tomography, tissue scattering, attenuation estimation, tissue characterization, atherosclerotic plaque, malignant lesion detection
- MeSH terms
- Brain Injuries, Choroid, Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological, Female, Glaucoma, Humans, Light, Male, Neoplasms, Retina, Scattering, Radiation, Models, Statistical, Phantoms, Imaging, Tomography, Optical Coherence, Optical Phenomena, Plaque, Atherosclerotic, Neoplasm Grading
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