Fitzgerald A J, Berry E, Zinov'ev N N, Homer-Vanniasinkam S, Miles R E, Chamberlain J M, Smith M A
Academic Unit of Medical Physics and Centre of Medical Imaging Research, University of Leeds, Wellcome Wing, Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds, LS1 3EX UK.
J Biol Phys. 2003 Jun;29(2-3):123-8. doi: 10.1023/A:1024428406218.
Recently published studies suggest thatterahertz pulsed imaging will have applications inmedicine and biology, but there iscurrently very little information about the opticalproperties of human tissue at terahertzfrequencies. Such information would be useful forpredicting the feasibility of proposedapplications, optimising acquisition protocols,providing information about variability ofhealthy tissue and supplying data for studies of theinteraction mechanisms. Research ethicscommittee approval was obtained, andmeasurements made from samples of freshlyexcised human tissue, using a broadbandterahertz pulsed imaging system comprisingfrequencies approximately 0.5 to 2.5 THz.Refractive index and linear absorptioncoefficient were found. Reproducibility wasdetermined using blood from one volunteer,which was drawn and measured on consecutivedays. Skin, adipose tissue, striatedmuscle, vein and nerve were measured (to date, from oneindividual). Water had a higher refractiveindex (2.04 ± 0.07) than any tissue.The linear absorption coefficient was higher formuscle than adipose tissue, as expectedfrom the higher hydration of muscle. As these samples camefrom a single subject, there is currentlyinsufficient statistical power to draw firmconclusions, but results suggest that in vivo clinical imaging will be feasible in certainapplications.
最近发表的研究表明，太赫兹脉冲成像将在医学和生物学领域得到应用，但目前关于太赫兹频率下人体组织光学特性的信息非常少。这些信息对于预测拟议应用的可行性、优化采集协议、提供关于健康组织变异性的信息以及为相互作用机制研究提供数据将是有用的。研究获得了伦理委员会的批准，并使用一个频率范围约为0.5至2.5太赫兹的宽带太赫兹脉冲成像系统对新鲜切除的人体组织样本进行了测量。测量得到了折射率和线性吸收系数。使用一名志愿者的血液进行了再现性测定，该血液在连续几天内采集并测量。对皮肤、脂肪组织、横纹肌、静脉和神经进行了测量（迄今为止，来自一个个体）。水的折射率（2.04±0.07）高于任何组织。正如预期的那样，由于肌肉的水合作用更高，肌肉的线性吸收系数高于脂肪组织。由于这些样本来自单个受试者，目前没有足够的统计能力得出确凿结论，但结果表明，在某些应用中，体内临床成像将是可行的。
