Diffuse optical cortical mapping using the boundary element method

Cortical mapping, also called optical topography is a new medical imaging modality which allows the non-invasive investigation of the outer layers of the cortex. This technique is challenging and the geometry of the subject is very often over-simplified. We aim here to localize activated regions of an anatomically accurate brain. A Boundary Element Method is used for the forward model. The reconstruction of perturbations in the absorption coefficient is demonstrated in a geometrically realistic simulation and in vivo. These results show that diffuse optical imaging of the head can provide reliable activity maps when anatomical data is available.