Modeling photon propagation in anisotropically scattering media with the equation of radiative transfer

Abstract

The equation of radiative transfer can take into account the anisotropic scattering behavior of photons and anisotropic sources for modeling the light propagation in tissue. This is an important aspect when small tissue geometries are considered. In this case the solutions of the commonly applied diffusion approximation may provide only insufficiently accurate results. We numerically solve the equation of radiative transfer by means of a finite-difference discrete-ordinates technique. However, strong anisotropically scattering media require many discrete ordinates, which lead to a large computational burden. In this study we implemented a Delta-Eddington method that allows using only a small number of discrete ordinates, and the solution can be obtained at a lesser computational costs.