Lattice Boltzmann method-based solution of radiative transfer equation for investigating light propagation through laser-irradiated tissue phantoms

The present work is concerned with the development and application of Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM)-based numerical methodology for solving the transient form of radiative transfer equation (RTE). The study is important in the context of understanding light-tissue interaction with potential application in photo-thermal therapy. Simulations have been performed on numerically generated tissue phantoms exhibiting similar optical properties as that of the real biological tissue samples. The developed mathematical model has first been comprehensively validated against the results of the numerical studies available in the literature. Thereafter, results of a detailed parametric study have been presented to investigate the effects of optical properties of the biological tissue phantoms on the intensity distribution within the body of the two-dimensional tissue phantom. The effect of scattering albedo has also been studied. Results of the study clearly reveal that the developed numerical methodology based on the concept of LBM successfully predicts the physics of the phenomena of light propagation within the body of the laser-irradiated tissue phantom and compares well with the other conventionally employed numerical models for solving the transient form of RTE.