Diffuse optical tomography is emerging as a viable new biomedical imaging modality. Using near-infrared light this technique probes absorption as well as scattering properties of biological tissues. First commercial instruments are now available that combined with appropriate image reconstruction scheme allow to obtain cross sectional views of various body parts. The main applications are currently brain, breast, limb and joint imaging. While the spatial resolution is limited compared to other imaging modalities such as MRI or X-ray tomography, diffuse optical tomography provides for a fast, inexpensive, acquisition of a variety of physiological parameters that are otherwise not accessible. We present here a brief overview over the current state-of-the-art technology and some of its main applications.
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