A Lattice Boltzmann Forward Model for Fast Fluorescence Diffuse Optical Tomography

Fluorescent Diffuse Optical Tomography (FDOT), as a new imaging technology, can achieve three-dimensional quantitative functional imaging of probe in biological tissues, and has wide application value in biomedicine. Forward model which describes the photon propagation within a biological tissue is a prerequisite for implementing FDOT and determines the performance of FDOT. To further improve the efficiency of FDOT, this paper proposes a new forward model based on the Lattice Boltzmann (LB) method derived from the discretization of radiation transfer equation and applies it to FDOT. The experimental results of numerical simulation and physical phantom show that the LB-based forward model proposed in this paper can increase the imaging speed of FDOT by about 5 times compared with the traditional diffusion equation method, without reducing its imaging quality.