Optical image reconstruction based on the third-

order diffusion equations

Huabei Jiang

Biomedical Optics Laboratory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634
hjiang@clemson.edu

Abstract: This paper presents a third-order diffusion equations-based optical

image reconstruction algorithm. The algorithm has been implemented using
finite element discretizations coupled with a hybrid regularization that
combines both Marquardt and Tikhonov schemes. Numerical examples are
used to compare between the third- and first-order reconstructions. The results
show that the third-order reconstruction codes are more stable than the first-
order codes, and are capable of reconstructing void-like regions. From the
examples given, it has also been shown that the first-order codes fail to both
qualitatively and quantitatively reconstruct the void-like regions.
©1999 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (100.3190) Inverse problem; (110.6960) Tomography; (170.3010) Image reconstruction
techniques; (170.3660) Light propagation in tissues
_______________________________________________________________
References and links

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(C) 1999 OSA 12 April 1999 / Vol. 4, No. 8 / OPTICS EXPRESS 241
 15. In Mathematics and Physics of Emerging Biomedical Imaging (National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.,
1996).
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tissues,” Proc. SPIE 2389, 608-614 (1995).
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Express 1, 404-413 (1997), http://epubs.osa.org/oearchive/source/2831.htm
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1. Introduction

Current optical image reconstruction algorithms [1-11] are almost all based on the first-order
diffusion equation, which is only applicable in cases where the scattering is assumed to
dominate the absorption and the optode spacing is much larger than the inverse of the
reduced scattering coefficient. While these conditions are satisfied for almost all tissues in
the near-infrared region, there are concerns in the use of the first-order diffusion equation in
optical image reconstruction. The major concern is encountered in imaging multi-layered
brain tissue where a clear, non-scattering layer of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lies between the
inner skull table and the brain surface. The first-order diffusion equation fails to describe
light propagation in this region [12-14], which means that alternative approaches for light
modeling must be used. Another concern involved in optical image reconstruction using the
first-order diffusion equation is highly absorbing regions such as hematoma.

In this paper we attempt to develop a third-order diffusion equations-based

reconstruction algorithm that may resolve the above mentioned concerns. Since the third-
order diffusion equations can be derived from the Boltzmann transport equation without the
assumptions that are applied to the first-order diffusion equation, they are applicable to the
CSF layer in brain tissue. Further, because the third-order diffusion equations are hyperbolic
type differential equations, they can provide more stable inverse solutions than the parabolic
first-order diffusion equation [15]. Numerical examples have been used to confirm these
conclusions using the implemented third-order diffusion equations-based reconstruction
algorithm in which finite element discretizations coupled with a synthesized Marquardt and
Tikhonov regularization scheme have been used.

2. Reconstruction algorithm

In this paper we are interested only in optical image reconstruction in the steady-state,
continuous-wave domain. The algorithm in the frequency- or time-domain can be developed
in a similar manner. The third-order diffusion equations derived from the Boltzmann photon
transport equation can be stated as[16-18]:

(1) (1) (2) (3) (4)

∇ ⋅D(r)∇Φ (r) − µ a (r)Φ (r) − ∇⋅ D(r)∇Φ (r) + 6∇⋅ D(r)∇1Φ (r) + 6∇⋅ D(r)∇2Φ (r) = −S(r) (1)

25 60 60
−∇ ⋅ D(r)∇Φ (1) (r) + ∇⋅ D(r)∇Φ ( 2) (r) − 5µ′t (r)Φ( 2) (r) − ∇⋅ D(r)∇1Φ ( 3) (r) − ∇ ⋅D(r)∇ 2 Φ (4) (r) = 0 (2)
7 7 7

10 90
∇ ⋅ D(r)∇1Φ (1) (r) − ∇ ⋅ D(r)∇ 1Φ (2 ) (r) + ∇ ⋅ D(r)∇Φ ( 3) (r) − 10 µt′ (r)Φ ( 3) (r) = 0 (3)
7 7

1 5 45
∇ ⋅ D(r)∇ 2 Φ (1) (r) − ∇ ⋅ D(r)∇2 Φ ( 2) (r) + ∇ ⋅ D (r)∇ Φ (4) (r) − 5µt′ (r)Φ ( 4) (r) = 0 (4)
2 7 7

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(C) 1999 OSA 12 April 1999 / Vol. 4, No. 8 / OPTICS EXPRESS 242
 ∂ ∂ ∂ ∂ ∂ ∂
where ∇ = xˆ + yˆ , ∇1 = xˆ − yˆ , and ∇ 2 = xˆ +y
ˆ . Φ(1) , Φ( 2) , Φ( 3) , and
∂x ∂y ∂x ∂y ∂y ∂x
Φ( 4) are the first four components in the spherical harmonic expansion of the photon
(1)
radiance where the first component, Φ , is the average diffused photon density. µ a is the
absorption coefficient. µ′t = µ a + (1 − g)µs , where µ s is the scattering coefficient and g is the
average cosine of the scattering angle. D = 1/ 3µ′t is the diffusion coefficient. xˆ and yˆ are
the unit vectors along x and y axes, respectively. S is the light source term.

We must choose appropriate boundary conditions (BCs) in order to solve Eqs. (1)-
(4). In this study we apply Type III BCs to the first component, Φ(1) , i.e.,
−D ˆn ⋅ ∇Φ(1) = αΦ (1) , where nˆ is the unit normal vector for the boundary surface and α is a
coefficient that is related to the internal reflection at the boundary, and employ Type I BCs
(2) ( 3) ( 4)
to the remaining components, i.e., Φ = Φ = Φ = 0 .

Making use of finite element discretizations, the discretized forms of Eqs. (1)-(4)
can be written as

N   P Q  P P P 
∑ Φ (1)
j  − ∑ D p φ p ∇φ j ⋅ ∇φ i − ∑ µ q φ q φ j φi  + Φ(2)
j ∑ D pφ p∇φ j ⋅ ∇φ i (3)
− 6Φ j ∑ D pφ p ∇1 φ j ⋅ ∇φi − 6Φ j
(4)
∑ D p φ p ∇ 2φ j ⋅ ∇φ i 

j =1   p= 1 q =1  p =1 p =1 p= 1 
(1) (2) (3) (4)
= − Sφ i − ∫ Dˆn ⋅ ∇Φ φi ds + ∫ Dˆn ⋅ ∇Φ φ ids − 6∫ Dˆn ⋅ ∇1Φ φ ids − 6∫ Dˆn ⋅ ∇2Φ φ ids (5)

 
N P
25 (2)  P
5 P  60 P
60 (4) P
∑ Φ (1)j ∑ Dp φp ∇φ j ⋅ ∇φ i − Φj  ∑ D pφ p∇φ j ⋅ ∇φ i + ∑ D −1
p φ q φ j φi + Φ(j3) ∑ D p φ p ∇1φ j ⋅ ∇φ i − Φj ∑ Dp φ p ∇ 2 φ j ⋅∇φ i 
j =1  p =1 7  p= 1 3 p= 1  7 p =1 7 p =1 

= ∫ Dnˆ ⋅ ∇Φ(1) φ ids +

25 60
Dnˆ ⋅ ∇Φ(2) φ ids − ∫ D ˆn ⋅ ∇1Φ(3) φi ds −
60
Dnˆ ⋅ ∇2Φ(4) φ ids
(6)
7 ∫ 7 7 ∫

N  P
10 P
90  P
10 P 
∑ Φ (1)
j − ∑ D p φ p∇1 φ j ⋅∇φ i + Φj
(2)
∑ D p φ p∇ 1φ j ⋅ ∇φ i −
(3)
Φj  ∑ D p φ p ∇φ j ⋅∇φ i + ∑ D −p 1 φ pφ j φ i 
j =1 
 p =1 7 p =1 7  p =1 3 p =1 

= − ∫ Dnˆ ⋅ ∇1 Φ(1) φ ids +

10
Dnˆ ⋅ ∇1Φ (2)φ i ds −
90
Dnˆ ⋅ ∇Φ (3) φi ds
(7)
7 ∫ 7 ∫

N  1 P
5 (2) P
45 (4)  P
5 P 
∑ Φ(1)j − ∑ D pφ p ∇ 2 φ j ⋅ ∇φ i + Φj ∑ D pφ p ∇ 2 φ j ⋅ ∇φ i − Φj  ∑ D p φ p∇φ j ⋅ ∇φi + ∑ D −1p φ p φ j φ i 
j =1 
 2 p=1 7 p=1 7  p=1 3 p=1 

1 5
D ˆn ⋅ ∇ 2 Φ(1) φ ids + ∫ Dnˆ ⋅ ∇ 2 Φ(2) φ ids −
45
Dnˆ ⋅ ∇Φ (4) φi ds
(8)
2∫ 7 ∫
=−
7

where indicates integration over the problem domain and Φ (1)-(4), D, and µa have been
expanded as the sum of coefficients multiplied by a set of locally spatially-varying
Lagrangian basis functions φ φ p , and φ q . ∫ expresses integration over the boundary
surface. N is the node number of a finite element mesh. The expansions used to represent D
and µa are P and Q terms long where P ≠ Q ≠ N in general; however, in the study reported
here P=Q=N.

In optical image reconstruction, the goal is to form D and µa images from

presumably uniform initial estimates of the spatial D and µa distributions. Thus, we need a

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(C) 1999 OSA 12 April 1999 / Vol. 4, No. 8 / OPTICS EXPRESS 243
way of updating D and µa from their starting values. Following the inverse procedures
outlined in [8,9], the following matrix equation for updating D and µa is obtained:

(ℑT ℑ + λI)∆χ = ℑT (Φo − Φ c ) (9)

where
 ∂Φ(1)
1 ∂Φ 1(1) ∂Φ1(1) ∂Φ1(1) ∂Φ1(1) ∂Φ1(1) 
 ∂D L L
∂D2 ∂D N ∂µ a,1 ∂µa ,2 ∂µa ,N 
 1 
 ∂Φ(1)
2 ∂Φ (1)
2 L
∂Φ (1)
2 ∂Φ(1)
2 ∂Φ (1)
2 L
∂Φ(1)
2 
ℑ =  ∂D1 ∂D2 ∂D N ∂µ a,1 ∂µa ,2 ∂µa ,N  (10)
 
 M(1) M O M M M O M 
 ∂Φ M ∂Φ (1)
M ∂Φ (1)
M ∂Φ(1)
M ∂Φ (1)
M
(1)
∂ΦM 
L L
 ∂D1 ∂D2 ∂D N ∂µ a,1 ∂µa ,2 ∂µa ,N 

and ∆χ = (∆D1 , ∆D2 ,...∆D N ,∆µ a,1, ∆µa ,2 ,...∆µa, N )T is the update vector for the optical
property profiles. Φ o = (Φ(1),o
1 ,Φ(21),o ,...Φ (1),o
M )
T
and Φ c = (Φ1(1), c , Φ(1),
2
c
,...Φ (1),c T
M ) , where
Φ(1),o
i and Φ (1),c
i are observed and calculated average diffused photon density for i=1, 2, ...
M boundary locations. Note that only the first component or the average diffused photon
density, Φ(1) , is used in Eq. (9) since it is the dominant component [16], and other
components, Φ (2)−( 4) , are set to zeros at the boundary. In Eq. (9), the decomposition of the
ill-conditioned matrix ℑT ℑ is stabilized by a synthesized Marquardt and Tikhonov
regularization scheme [8,9].
C

R1: 21.5 mm
G
R2: 12.5 mm

A E F B

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 1. (a) Geometry of the test case under study; (b) reconstructed D image for the first test case;
(c) reconstructed µ a image for the first test case.

3. Numerical examples of reconstruction

In this section we use numerical examples to test the reconstruction algorithm described in
Section 2. The test geometry, shown in Fig. 1 (a), consists of a circular background region
(radius=21.5 mm) with an embedded circular target (radius=6.25 mm) offsetting 5 mm. The
examples include two test cases with different optical properties assigned in the embedded
target and background regions. For the first case, the optical properties for the target are
µ ′s =2.0 mm-1, µ a=0.012 mm-1; the optical properties for the background are µ ′s =1.0 mm-1,
µ a=0.006 mm-1. For the second case, the optical properties for the target are µ s′ =0.01 mm-1,
µ a=0.005 mm-1; the optical properties for the background are µ s′ =1.0 mm-1, µ a=0.01 mm-1.
The first case is used to just demonstrate the implementation of our third-order

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(C) 1999 OSA 12 April 1999 / Vol. 4, No. 8 / OPTICS EXPRESS 244
reconstruction codes. The purpose of the second case is to test if the third-order codes can
reconstruct a void-like region and if it can provide more stable reconstructions than the first-
order codes when noisy data is used. The optical properties assigned to the void-like region
is similar to that in the CSF layer in brain tissue [14]. Multiple excitation and measurement
positions were used to produce the boundary information used in the reconstructions.
Specifically, we used 16 excitation positions (equally spaced around the circular
circumference) and 16 measurement locations (also equally spaced around the circular
circumference, but with a shift relative to the excitation positions) for detection of diffusive
light. The radial location of each source was positioned inside of the physical boundary by a
distance, d=3D for the point source excitation used in the computational algorithm. The
finite element mesh used in this study consisted of 241 nodes and 416 triangle elements. The
final images reported are the result of iteration until the initial sum of squared errors
between measured and computed photon density values at the measurement site locations is
reduced 5 orders of magnitude. Reaching this level of reduction in the initial sum of squared
errors typically required 20 iterations at a cost of 2 minutes per iteration for the finite
element mesh used herein in a Sun Ultra 30 workstation.

In the examples, the "measured" data were generated using a forward higher-order
diffusion model with the exact D and µ a in place. Fig. 1 (b, c) shows the D and µ a images for
the first case reconstructed under conditions of no noise. As can be seen, the images are
clearly recovered.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Fig. 2. (a) Recovered D image for the second case using the third-order codes; (b) recovered µ a
image for the second case using the third-order codes; (c) recovered D image for the second case
using the first-order codes; (b) recovered µ a image for the second case using the firs-order codes;

For the second case, 2% noise has been added to the “measured” data. Fig. 2 (a, b)
presents the successfully reconstructed D and µ a images for the second case. In order to
provide a comparison, D and µ a images reconstructed using our first-order codes are
displayed in Fig. 2 (c, d). A number of observations can be made from Fig. 2. The almost
non-scattering, void-like target can be qualitatively recovered for both D and µ a images using
the third-order codes [Fig. 2 (a, b)], whereas it cannot be correctly recovered using the first-
order codes [Fig. 2 (c, d)]. Interestingly, the target location for both D and µ a images

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(C) 1999 OSA 12 April 1999 / Vol. 4, No. 8 / OPTICS EXPRESS 245
recovered is incorrectly “swapped” to the left when the firs-order codes were used. From Fig.
2 (a, b), one can see that the third-order codes can produce correct reconstructions of the
target location and shape. While the reconstructed target size for D image is correct [Fig. 2
(a)], the recovered target size for µ a image is larger than the exact target size. When the first-
order codes were used, the recovered target size, location and shape for both D and µ a images
are totally incorrect. From Fig. 2, it can be seen that both D and µ a images can be
quantitatively reconstructed using the third-order codes [Fig. 2 (a, b)], whereas the recovered
values of both D and µ a in the target region are all “swapped” with respect to the exact
values when the first-order codes were used [Fig. 2 (c, d)]. However, it is interesting to note
that the first-order codes produce better background region reconstruction than the third-
order codes. Given the facts that the third-order codes can reconstruct the void-like regions
from noisy data and the first-order codes cannot do so, one can also see that the third-order
codes are more stable than the first-order codes.

4. Conclusions

We have demonstrated optical image reconstructions using the higher-order diffusion

equations-based reconstruction algorithm. The algorithm presented here coupled with the
imaging enhancement schemes we developed [10,11] will be able to improve the overall
quality of optical image reconstruction. It is anticipated that this algorithm may find its
applications in imaging brain tissues.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (R55 CA78334) and the
Greenville Hospital System/Clemson University Biomedical Cooperative.

#9167 - $15.00 US Received February 28 1999; Revised April 09, 1999

(C) 1999 OSA 12 April 1999 / Vol. 4, No. 8 / OPTICS EXPRESS 246