Optical CT imaging of hemoglobin oxygen-saturation using dual-wavelength time gate technique.

Our results may be summarized as follows: 1. In-vivo hemoglobin oxygen-saturation images of rat brain can be obtained using near-infrared light. 2. The transmitted light has multiple scattered components, which degrade spatial resolution, though most of the scattering can be excluded by a suitable time-gating technique. 3. The hemoglobin oxygen-saturation of the cerebellum is higher than that of the cerebrum in untreated anesthetized rats. Although further improvements in the technique should result in better resolution, we have demonstrated the feasibility of using near-infrared light to obtain in-vivo hemoglobin oxygen-saturation images.