Reply to "Comment on 'A study on tetrahedron-based inhomogeneous Monte-Carlo optical simulation'".

We compare the accuracy of TIM-OS and MMCM in response to the recent analysis made by Fang [Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 1258 (2011)]. Our results show that the tetrahedron-based energy deposition algorithm used in TIM-OS is more accurate than the node-based energy deposition algorithm used in MMCM.

PARAMETRIC STUDY OF TISSUE OPTICAL CLEARING BY LOCALIZED MECHANICAL COMPRESSION USING COMBINED FINITE ELEMENT AND MONTE CARLO SIMULATION.

Tissue Optical Clearing Devices (TOCDs) have been shown to increase light transmission through mechanically compressed regions of naturally turbid biological tissues. We hypothesize that zones of high compressive strain induced by TOCD pins produce localized water displacement and reversible changes in tissue optical properties. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel combined mechanical finite element model and optical Monte Carlo model which simulates TOCD pin compression of an ex vivo porcine skin sample and modified spatial photon fluence distributions within the tissue. Results of this simulation qualitatively suggest that light transmission through the skin can be significantly affected by changes in compressed tissue geometry as well as concurrent changes in tissue optical properties. The development of a comprehensive multi-domain model of TOCD application to tissues such as skin could ultimately be used as a framework for optimizing future design of TOCDs.

A study on tetrahedron-based inhomogeneous Monte Carlo optical simulation.

Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is widely recognized as a gold standard in biophotonics for its high accuracy. Here we analyze several issues associated with tetrahedron-based optical Monte Carlo simulation in the context of TIM-OS, MMCM, MCML, and CUDAMCML in terms of accuracy and efficiency. Our results show that TIM-OS has significant better performance in the complex geometry cases and has comparable performance with CUDAMCML in the multi-layered tissue model.

Numerical study on the validity of the diffusion approximation for computational optical biopsy.

Currently, we are developing a computational optical biopsy technology for molecular sensing. We use the diffusion equation to model photon propagation but have a concern about the accuracy of diffusion approximation when the optical sensor is close to a bioluminescent source. We derive formulas to describe photon fluence for point and ball sources and measurement formulas for an idealized optical biopsy probe. Then, we numerically compare the diffusion approximation and the radiative transport as implemented by Monte Carlo simulation in the cases of point and ball sources. Our simulation results show that the diffusion approximation can be accurately applied if mu's>>mu(a) even if the sensor is very close to the source (>1mm). Furthermore, an approximate formula is given to describe the measurement of a cut-end fiber probe for a ball source.