Diffuse optical imaging

The technique has many applications to neuroscience, sports medicine, wound monitoring, and cancer detection.

Typically DOI techniques monitor changes in concentrations of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin and may additionally measure redox states of cytochromes.

In neuroscience, functional measurements made using NIR wavelengths, DOI techniques may classify as functional near infrared spectroscopy fNIRS.

Biological tissues can be considered strongly diffusive media, since during light propagation the scattering phenomenon is dominant over absorption in the so-called "therapeutic window" spectral range.

Starting from the measured absorption and scattering coefficients, it is possible to derive the concentrations of tissues' main chromophores.