A finite-element-based reconstruction method for 3D fluorescence tomography

In this paper, we propose a dual-excitation-mode methodology for three-dimensional (3D) fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT). For this modality, an effective reconstruction algorithm is developed to reconstruct fluorescent yield and lifetime using finite element techniques. In the steady state mode, a direct linear relationship is established between measured optical data on the body surface of a small animal and the unknown fluorescent yield inside the animal, and the reconstruction of fluorescent yield is formulated as a linear least square minimization problem. In the frequency domain mode, based on localization results of the fluorescent probe obtained using the first mode, the reconstruction of fluorescent lifetime is transformed into a relatively simple optimization problem. This algorithm helps overcome the ill-posedness with FMT. The effectiveness of the proposed method is numerically demonstrated using a heterogeneous mouse chest phantom, showing good accuracy, stability, noise characteristics and computational efficiency.