A Transmissive Laser Speckle Imaging Technique for Measuring Deep Tissue Blood Flow: An Example Application in Finger Joints

作者：Dunn J F; Forrester K R; Martin L; Tulip J; Bray R C^*

来源：Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, 2011, 43(1): 21-28.

DOI：10.1002/lsm.21018

• imaging
• synovial
• blood flow
• speckle
• rheumatoid arthritis
• laser

Background and Objective: Laser speckle perfusion imaging (LSPI) is a minimally invasive optical measure of relative changes in blood flow, providing real-time, high resolution, two-dimensional maps of vascular structure. Standard LSI imaging uses a light-reflective geometry that limits the measurement to a thin surface layer of 0.2-1 mm. The objective of this study was to test a new LSI instrument geometry with the laser source opposed to the image capture plane (light transmissive). Captured light then travels the entire tissue thickness (10-15 mm), sampling much deeper regions of interest than conventional optical imaging techniques.
Study Design: Reflective-light (conventional) and transmissive-light LSI modes were used to measure finger joint blood flow during a timed tourniquet occlusion of the brachial artery in volunteer participants.
Results: There was greatly increased visibility of vessels underlying the skin in the light-transmissive mode LSI mode. Established LSI algorithms were shown to still work in the light-transmissive mode, despite decorrelation due to finite laser coherence length and the light passing through a tissue thickness of 10-15 mm.
Conclusion: Transmissive LSI can be used to measure blood flow deep (10-15 mm) into tissues. This could be useful for non-invasive measurements of finger joint synovial blood flow in diagnosing and treating peripheral vascular disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Lasers Surg. Med. 43:21-28, 2011.

• 出版日期2011-1