ABSTRACT
The goal of optical imaging is to depict non-invasive in vivo cellular and molecular processes sensitively and specifically, such as monitoring multiple molecular events, cell trafficking, and targeting. However, optical imaging has been in a planar mode and largely a qualitative imaging tool, which limits its applications. The optical imaging has been in a planar mode and largely a qualitative imaging tool, which limits its applications. To overcome the limitations, a tomographic counterpart such as optical tomography has been developed and has become a valuable tool in the biomedical imaging field, which integrates multiple optical acquisitions from optical imaging, geometrical structures from computed tomography (CT), and tissue's optical properties to directly reconstruct the optical probe distribution inside a small living animal. Optical tomography, also called hybrid optical-CT imaging, is capable of three-dimensional recovery of the location and concentration of the optical probe inside a small living animal.
