Abstract
Enabling handheld perfusion imaging would drastically improve the feasibility of perfusion imaging in clinical practice. Therefore, we examine the performance of handheld laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) measurements compared to mounted measurements, demonstrated in psoriatic skin. A pipeline is introduced to process, analyze and compare data of 11 measurement pairs (mounted-handheld LSCI modes) operated on 5 patients and various skin locations. The on-surface speeds (i.e. speed of light beam movements on the surface) are quantified employing mean separation (MS) segmentation and enhanced correlation coefficient maximization (ECC). The average on-surface speeds are found to be 8.5 times greater in handheld mode compared to mounted mode. Frame alignment sharpens temporally averaged perfusion maps, especially in the handheld case. The results show that after proper post-processing, the handheld measurements are in agreement with the corresponding mounted measurements on a visual basis. The absolute movement-induced difference between mounted-handheld pairs after the background correction is 16.4pm 9.3~% (mean ± std, n=11), with an absolute median difference of 23.8%. Realization of handheld LSCI facilitates measurements on a wide range of skin areas bringing more convenience for both patients and medical staff.
Highlights
Enabling handheld perfusion imaging would drastically improve the feasibility of perfusion imaging in clinical practice
Localization and on-surface speed calculation for the handheld measurement of experiment index 1 has been demonstrated in Supplementary Video S2
The performance of handheld laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) was studied in detail and the outputs were compared with mounted experiments in psoriasis patients using the Handheld perfusion imager (HAPI) prototype (Fig. 1)
Summary
Enabling handheld perfusion imaging would drastically improve the feasibility of perfusion imaging in clinical practice. Among the optical perfusion imaging techniques, laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) has been a point of interest in the past three decades since it is non-invasive, affordable and compact[10] In this imaging modality, the skin surface is illuminated by coherent laser light. Using an adjacent opaque surface, Mahe et al.[13] obtained mounted LSCI data over a moving skin surface as well as during exercise[14] and compensated the occurred movement artefacts. Their protocol was later optimized by Omarjee et al.[15]. Results of handheld measurements showed that on average spherical and planar wavefronts cause less drop in the speckle contrast compared to a scrambled wavefront while measuring on a tissue mimicking static phantom
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
