Evaluation of Enhanced High-Resolution Laser Doppler Imaging in anin VitroTube Model with the Aim of Assessing Blood Flow in Separate Microvessels

Abstract

An enhanced high-resolution laser Doppler imaging (EHR-LDI) technique intended for visualization of separate microvessels was evaluated by use ofin vitroflow models. In EHR-LDI, a laser beam focused to a half-power diameter less than 40 μm successively scans the tissue under study in steps of 25 μm. Spatial blood flow variations within microvascular structures of 1.5 × 1.5 mm are rendered by 64 × 64 measurement sites. Individual microvessel diameters could be estimated and an average difference of 11 μm compared to microscopic measurements was obtained. For the flow algorithm used, the LDI output signal was found to scale linearly with average velocity (0–3.5 mm/s) when a plastic tube of inner diameter 175 μm was perfused with human blood (correlation coefficient 0.99). The LDI output signal was further found insensitive to hematocrit variations in the range 16–44%. Due to the limited laser light penetration in blood, a reduction in the LDI output signal was observed as the inner tube diameters were successively changed from 280 to 1400 μm.