Optical characterization of lipid-based tissue phantoms

The application of optical techniques in medical diagnosis provides relevant advantages in terms of resolution, contrast, or the possibility of performing functional imaging. During the measurement processes that are involved in the design and verification of biomedical optical models, techniques and prototypes, it is convenient to make use of materials that mimic the optical properties shown by biological tissues. These media are called tissue phantoms. The choice of materials for obtaining such tissue phantoms is crucial. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the properties of biological tissues and of the available materials, and to perform a comparative study between them. Once the appropriate materials are chosen, the experimental determination of their optical characteristics must be performed in a precise way before they are used in the measurements. In this work, the optical properties of lipid-based tissue phantoms are analyzed and measured, with the final aim to use them for the experimental simulation of biological tissues.