Introductory Course Syllabus

  • Introduction to Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS):
    • Absorption and scattering contrast
    • Physiological contrasts
    • Functional contrasts
    • Light propagation in biological tissue
    • Quantifying hemoglobin changes: modified Beer-Lambert law
  • fNIRS history
  • NIRS modalities:
    • Cerebral Oximeters
    • CW-NIRS
    • FD-NIRS
    • TD-NIRS
    • DCS
  • Imaging
    • 2D mapping = topography
    • 3D reconstruction = tomography
    • Atlas head model
  • Challenges
    • Sensitivity to brain
    • Differential path-length & Partial volume error
    • Potential for hemoglobin cross-talk
    • Accuracy of NIRS focal changes
    • Spatial resolution and localization
    • Systemic physiology contamination
    • Short separation and other filters
    • Motion artifacts
  • Additional consideration for successful use in clinical and neuroscience application
    • Devices choices: signal to noise ratio and dynamic range
    • ANSI standards