Light absorption of blood

Blood is a critically important biofluid responsible for transporting oxygen and nutrients to all body tissues and removing waste from them. Blood has distinct spectral features in the visible spectrum range, enabling multiple biomedical optical methods. The Chapter provides information on the current state of knowledge about the absorption properties of blood and its components, including tabular data. The impact of multiple factors (i.e., hematocrit, oxygenation, shear rate, osmolarity, and heterogeneity of chromophore distribution) is discussed. The Chapter also provides information on techniques used for blood absorption measurements and those that utilize the absorption properties of blood to extract biomedical information.