TISSUE SELF-AFFINITY AND LIGHT SCATTERING IN THE BORN APPROXIMATION: A NEW MODEL FOR PRECANCER DIAGNOSIS,

M. HUNTER, V. BACKMAN, G. POPESCU, M. KALASHNIKOV, C. W. BOONE, A. WAX, G. VENKATESH, K. BADIZADEGAN, G. D. STONER AND M. S. FELD
2006

Light scattered from biological tissues can exhibit an inverse power law spectral component. We develop a model based on the Born approximation and von Karman (self-affine) spatial correlation of submicron tissue refractive index to account for this. The model is applied to light scattering spectra obtained from excised esophagi of normal and carcinogen-treated rats. Power law exponents used to fit dysplastic tissue site spectra are significantly smaller than those from normal sites, indicating that changes in tissue self-affinity can serve as a potential biomarker for precancer.