Recovering the superficial microvascular pattern via diffuse reflection imaging: phantom validation

BACKGROUND: Diffuse reflection imaging could potentially be used to recover the superficial microvasculature under cutaneous tissue and the associated blood oxygenation status with a modified imaging resolution. The aim of this work is to deliver a new approach of local off-axis scanning diffuse reflection imaging, with the revisit of the modified Beer–Lambert Law (MBLL). METHODS: To validate this, the system is used to recover the micron-scale subsurface vessel structure interiorly embedded in a skin equivalent tissue phantom. This vessel structure is perfused with oxygenated meta-hemoglobin solution. RESULTS: Our preliminary results confirm that the thin vessel structure can be mapped into a 2-D planar image. The distributions of oxygenated hemoglobin concentration ([Formula: see text] ) and deoxygenated hemoglobin concentration ([Formula: see text] ) can be co-registerated through the MBLL upon the CW spectroscopy, the scattering issue is addressed in the reformed MBLL. The recovered pattern matches to the estimation from the simultaneous optical coherence tomography studies. CONCLUSIONS: With further modification, this system may serve as the first prototype to investigate the superficial microvasculature in the expotential skin cancer loci, or a micro-lesion of vascular dermatosis.