Volumetric image formation from optical scans of biological tissue with multiple applications including deep brain oxygenation level monitoring

A method for facilitating non-invasive monitoring of a biological volume, comprising:

• receiving first information representative of optical measurements acquired from a plurality of optical source-detector pairs positioned in optical coupling with the biological volume;
• processing said first information to compute second information representative of a requisite property value for each source-detector pair;
• and
• processing said second information to compute third information representative of a three-dimensional map of the requisite property value, wherein said processing said second information to compute said third information comprises:
• receiving, for each optical source-detector pair, predetermined fourth information representative of a volumetric basis region corresponding to that source-detector pair, said volumetric basis region being representative of an estimated subvolume of the biological volume encountered by optical radiation emitted from that source and propagating to that detector;
• for each optical source-detector pair, weighting the corresponding volumetric basis region according to the requisite property value for that source-detector pair;
• and
• computing a voxelwise sum of all of said weighted volumetric basis regions to generate said third information representative of the three-dimensional map of the requisite property value.

A computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium for facilitating non-invasive monitoring of a biological volume, comprising:

• computer code for receiving first information representative of optical measurements acquired from a plurality of optical source-detector pairs optically coupled with the biological volume;
• computer code for processing said first information to compute second information representative of a requisite property value for each source-detector pair;
• and
• computer code for processing said second information to compute third information representative of a three-dimensional map of the requisite property value, wherein said computer code for processing said second information to compute said third information comprises:
• computer code for receiving, for each optical source-detector pair, predetermined fourth information representative of a volumetric basis region corresponding to that source-detector pair, said volumetric basis region being representative of an estimated subvolume of the biological volume encountered by optical radiation emitted from that source and propagating to that detector;
• computer code for weighting, for each optical source-detector pair, the corresponding volumetric basis region according to the requisite property value for that source-detector pair;
• and
• computer code for computing a voxelwise sum of all of said weighted volumetric basis regions to generate said third information representative of the three-dimensional map of the requisite property value.

A computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium for facilitating non-invasive monitoring of a biological volume, comprising:

• computer code for receiving first information representative of optical measurements acquired from a plurality of optical source-detector pairs optically coupled with the biological volume;
• computer code for processing said first information to compute second information representative of a requisite property value for each source-detector pair;
• computer code for processing said second information to compute third information representative of a three-dimensional map of the requisite property value, wherein said computer code for processing said second information to compute said third information comprises computer code for reconstructing an image representative of said three-dimensional map, said reconstructing accounting for volumetric basis regions related to the source-detector pairs, said volumetric basis regions being representative of estimated subvolumes of the biological volume encountered by optical radiation emitted from the sources and propagating to the detectors;
• and
• computer code for further processing said third information to cause a selected two-dimensional or three-dimensional display of display information derived at least in part from said third information.