Optical imaging modalities for biomedical applications

Optical photographic imaging is a well known imaging method that has been successfully translated into biomedical applications such as microscopy and endoscopy. Although several advanced medical imaging modalities are used today to acquire anatomical, physiological, metabolic, and functional information from the human body, optical imaging modalities including optical coherence tomography, confocal microscopy, multiphoton microscopy, multispectral endoscopy, and diffuse reflectance imaging have recently emerged with significant potential for non-invasive, portable, and cost-effective imaging for biomedical applications spanning tissue, cellular, and molecular levels. This paper reviews methods for modeling the propagation of light photons in a biological medium, as well as optical imaging from organ to cellular levels using visible and near-infrared wavelengths for biomedical and clinical applications.